Cross Tag Battle: Episode JNPR
by BranwenOSV
Summary: Team JNPR suddenly find themselves in an alternate world hosting the "Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament," where only one world's team can go back home safely. Can Jaune put everything he's learned to the test and get his team back home?
1. Team JNPR Enters the Tournament

**A/N: This story is basically if Team JNPR had their own episode story in "BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle", so spoilers if you haven't played the episode modes of that game. For timeline purposes, this takes place shortly after Volume 2.**

* * *

 _Forever Fall - Remnant_

It was a crazy couple of days for Team JNPR. Yesterday they woke up to the sounds of Vale undergoing a breach attack that was thankfully stopped before serious damage can be done, and then they had to complete their pre-Vytal Festival mission of protecting a local village outside the kingdom. With all that out of the way, it was now time for them to focus on training for the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament.

"All right!" said Nora, eager to get things started. "How are we going to do this? One on one, or a free-for-all battle royale?"

"Since the first two rounds of the tournament are team-based," said Pyrrha, "I think we should have two on two fights. That way we can work on synchronizing our strengths and decide which pair goes to the second round. Wouldn't you agree, Jaune?"

"...I guess?" replied Jaune, not sounding sure of himself. "I mean, I already have a feeling it'll probably be you and either Nora or Ren."

"Why do you think that?"

"I mean, it's obvious, isn't it? I'm still clearly the weakest member of the team. It would make no sense to team up with me."

Pyrrha sighed. She hated hearing Jaune tear himself down by constantly comparing himself to his teammates just on strength alone.

"You're not weak, Jaune," said Pyrrha. "Remember the breach we had recently? You held your own quite well!"

"Yeah!" said Nora. "I mean, just because you don't have a fancy weapon, or a super powerful semblance, doesn't mean you're the weakest!"

"You have strengths in other areas," said Ren. "You just need to capitalize on that."

"You guys are just saying that to cheer me up," said Jaune.

"You're wrong, Jaune," replied Pyrrha. "Ozpin made you our team leader for a reason. Perhaps after our training, you'll start to realize why."

"So, who's going to face who first?" asked Nora.

"How about Jaune and I against you and Ren?"

"Perfect! Gotta warn ya, though! Ren and I have been friends since childhood! The two of us go together like pancakes and syrup!"

Each team stood on opposite sides of the field and took out their respective weapons. Pyrrha glanced to her side and noticed Jaune already looking nervous, as if he already knew he was going to lose. Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"You'll do just fine," said Pyrrha. "Okay, is everyone ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," replied Jaune.

"Ring the bell and let's get it on!" yelled Nora.

"Any time," said Ren.

"We'll go on my signal!" said Pyrrha, getting back into her fighting stance. "Three...two...one-"

Before Pyrrha can finish, everything around Team JNPR suddenly went dark. Jaune felt as if he was just about to wake up from a dream but was still standing in what was supposed to be Forever Fall.

"What's going on?!" said Jaune, panicking over the sudden blackout. "Pyrrha! Nora! Ren! Are you guys still out there?"

Suddenly, everything around Jaune lit back up, and everyone was standing right where they were, looking about as confused as Jaune was.

"Did anyone else just black out for a moment?" asked Nora.

"Wait, you too?" asked Jaune.

"I blacked out momentarily as well," said Ren.

"It was all so sudden," said Pyrrha. "Everything went dark, and then it felt like I was about to wake up somewhere else."

"I felt the same way!" said Jaune. "What the heck could have caused this?"

 **"Allow me to explain it!"**

Jaune nearly jumped out of his skin from the disembodied voice talking out of nowhere. The voice sounded like an excited woman with a slight robotic accent of some sort. Jaune's teammates all took out their weapons and looked around to find the source of the voice.

"Who said that?" said Pyrrha. "What's going on?"

 **"Ladies and Gentlemen! The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived! Welcome to the 37th Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament!"**

"The what tournament?" asked Jaune.

 **"The Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament! Any other questions?"**

"Several, actually! First of all, what's a Keystone?"

 **"Why, the one you've got in your pocket, Jauney-boy!"**

Jaune reached into the pockets of his hoodie, wondering what this weird voice was talking about. "What? I don't have anything in my..." Jaune suddenly felt something pointy and sharp. He pulled it out and held it up for everyone to see. It was a red octahedron crystal, shining brightly from within.

"Oooh!" said Nora, mesmerized by the crystal. "That looks shiny!"

"But why do I suddenly have it?!" asked Jaune.

"I'm more concerned with how she knew your name," said Ren.

 **"I wouldn't be much of a hostess if I wasn't familiar with all the contestants names! Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren! Known in your world as Team JNPR, in this tournament, you shall be known as Team Red!"**

"Our world?" asked Pyrrha. "You mean...we're not on Remnant anymore?"

 **"You are a smart one! Now, as I was trying to say, this is the 37th Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament! As you can see, you have been given one Keystone! To win the tournament, you must collect all the other Keystones and arrive at the finish line!"**

"And where do we find these other Keystones?" asked Ren.

 **"By battling the other people in this tournament! I'd be careful if I were you; this tournament is full of ruthless baddies aiming to make sure you don't go home!"**

"Wait a minute!" yelled Jaune. "You mean if we don't win, we're stuck in whatever this weird dimension is forever?"

 **"Cooorrect! So, if I were you, I'd make sure I don't lose that Keystone, otherwise that would preeeeetty much be the end of Team Red's chances! And with that, I wish you all good bye, and good luck!"**

"But we still have several questions!" said Jaune. "Who are you? Where are we? Why is this even happening?"

Jaune expected the voice to reply, but only got silence in response. Jaune felt his stomach turning itself into knots at the thought of he and his team never going home.

"I think I'm going to be sick," moaned Jaune.

"It'll be fine, Jaune," said Pyrrha. "We might not understand what's going on, but as long as we don't lose that Keystone, we'll be able to get out of here eventually."

"Call me crazy," said Nora, "but...I'm kind of excited! A tournament with our lives on the line sounds like the perfect training for the Vytal Festival!"

"So, what do we do now?" asked Ren.

"Well, Jaune?" said Pyrrha.

"Huh? What?" replied Jaune, too busy trying to get over his sudden illness to pay attention.

"You're our team leader. I think it should be you to decide what to do now."

"Oh, right! That I am..."

Jaune cleared his throat and tried to think of their next course of action. It would have helped if the mysterious voice had given him more details about this tournament, but all he knew was he needed to protect his Keystone along with finding the other Keystones.

"That voice said there was other Keystones we needed to find. If we split up into two pairs, it might give us a better chance of gathering the stones. Pyrrha and I will head out one way; Nora and Ren, you go the other way. After a while, we'll try to meet up back here."

"All right," said Ren. "I assume you two will be holding on to the Keystone we have now?"

"Seems like a safer bet with Pyrrha protecting it."

"Be careful out there," said Pyrrha. "Try to stick together at all times."

The two pairs went off in different directions. Jaune and Pyrrha were walking for several minutes and found no signs of other people in Forever Fall - or at least the area resembling where they were supposed to be training.

"At least we don't have to worry about the Grimm while we're here," said Jaune. "Although we'll probably fight people far worse than a big Ursa."

"Try to think of it like Nora said," said Pyrrha. "Fighting all sorts of people would be good training for us."

"But these aren't going to be friendly sparring sessions! We lose even one fight and we'll never see Beacon again!"

"Don't worry, Jaune. I'll make sure that won't happen."

"Then you should be the one holding this," said Jaune, taking out the Keystone. "I just know I'll wind up losing it somehow."

"If you really insist I should..."

Pyrrha reached out to grab the Keystone when she suddenly saw someone or something coming out of the woods to attack them.

"Look out!" yelled Pyrrha, using her Polarity semblance to push Jaune far to the side.

Jaune suddenly found himself pushed to the ground as he heard a loud clang echo in his ears. He looked up to see Pyrrha use her shield to block a giant sword wielded by an equally tall man in white armor. Or at least, Jaune assumed it was a man; this "man" looked like some kind of demonic cyborg. After blocking the cyborg's slash, Pyrrha used her semblance to push them back.

"A lucky dodge!" said the mysterious swordsman. "A mistake I will not make again!"

"You must be one of the people after our Keystone!" said Pyrrha. "Who are you?"

"I am the white void. I am the cold steel. I am the just sword. I am Hakumen! Surrender your Keystone now!"

"N-n-never!" said Jaune, shaking in fear at this man who looked like he can kill Jaune just by staring at him. "We need this Keystone to get home!"

"What purpose do you have in doing this?" asked Pyrrha. "Are you working for that voice we heard?"

"I work only for myself!" replied Hakumen. "I am here to restore order!"

"And how is getting our Keystone supposed to do that? If you know something about all this, we should be working together!"

"Yeah!" said Jaune, hoping Pyrrha would convince this guy to not attack them. "I mean, wouldn't it be better if we all cooperated instead of fighting over something none of us really know about?"

"I do not have time for your mundane prattling!" yelled Hakumen. "I need that Keystone to be rid of this world, and I will eliminate anyone in my path!"

"Then you leave us no choice!" said Pyrrha, getting into a fighting stance. Jaune unsheathed his sword and went into his stance, even though he was visibly shaking and sweating from having to go up against Hakumen.

 **"Waaaaait a minute there! That's not how things work around here!"**

"Who dares interrupt my battle?" asked Hakumen.

"It's that weird voice again!" said Jaune.

"What do you want now?" asked Pyrrha.

 **"Did nobody listen to what I said before? This is a Tag Battle Tournament, emphasis on TAG BATTLE! The only fights allowed around here are two on two. Now, obviously Jaune and Pyrrha are a team, but you, Hakumen? I'm afraid you don't have a partner, and no partner means no fighting for the Keystone, buddy!"**

"Huh," said Jaune. "I guess the voice is on our side!"

"So, if Hakumen has no partner," said Pyrrha, "he's not allowed to fight us for the Keystone?"

 **"That's right! As per rules of the Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament, Keystones cannot rightfully change hands without a proper two on two confrontation."**

"I will not be bound by your ludicrous rules!" yelled Hakumen. "I will take that Keystone by any means necessary!"

"Any means, you say?" said a new gravelly voice nearby.

The three of them turned to see yet another freakishly tall man enter the fray. This one had long blue hair and a coat hanging over his shoulders. His chest was bare saved for the tattoos marked around him. Somehow, this guy looked even more deranged than the cyborg swordsman.

"Another fighter?" said Pyrrha. "Who are you?"

"The name's Azrael!" said the growling giant, cracking his knuckles. "And I hunger for a good fight!"

"Stay out of this, Mad Dog!" said Hakumen, pointing his blade towards Azrael. "Unless you want to taste the wrath of my blade!"

"As much as I crave your blood right now, I like to save my main course for last. Right now, there's a couple of appetizers I'd like to try out."

Azrael gently nudged Hakumen's sword out of his way and approached Pyrrha and Jaune, staring at them as if he was literally going to eat them.

"Oh, we don't taste very good!" said Jaune. "You sure you don't want to eat the other guy first?"

"Why are you after our Keystone?" asked Pyrrha, trying to bring the focus back on the Keystone.

"I don't give a damn about Keystones or whatever this tournament is about!" replied Azrael. "I only care about feeding my insatiable hunger! But since the only way we can fight is by teaming up, then so be it! What say you, samurai?"

"It appears I must abide by this world's rules!" said Hakumen, sounding disgusted at the thought of teaming up with the insane carnivore. "Very well, then! Consider this a temporary alliance!"

 **"Finally! We get to the first round of the tournament! It's Jaune and Pyrrha versus Azrael and Hakumen!"**

"What kind of first round match is this?" yelled Jaune.

"Calm down, Jaune!" said Pyrrha. "We'll get through this together!"

Pyrrha held up her shield and spear, wondering which of the two opponents was going to make the first move.

 **"Annnnd...FIGHT!"**

As soon as the mysterious voice gave the signal, Hakumen immediately tried to rush towards Pyrrha and jab her with the butt of his sword; Pyrrha blocked with her shield. Before Pyrrha can counter, Hakumen suddenly kicked her low in the thighs, an attack Pyrrha didn't see coming, then kicked Pyrrha in the ribs to push her back. With Pyrrha stumbling back, Hakumen raised his sword high and slashed down on Pyrrha. Pyrrha used her semblance to push Hakumen back so he couldn't reach Pyrrha; Pyrrha then noticed Hakumen attempt to sweep her legs with his blade. Pyrrha jumped up and threw her shield at Hakumen; the shield bounced off his metal face and attached itself back to Pyrrha's arm. With Hakumen momentarily stunned, Pyrrha charged in and back slashed with her spear multiple times on Hakumen, then tried to lunge her spear towards Hakumen's abdomen; Hakumen quickly threw up his arm to block Pyrrha's attack, then suddenly grabbed Pyrrha and threw her down. Pyrrha rolled back and hid behind her shield, firing several rounds at Hakumen while keeping her distance.

 _"Somehow despite his size,"_ thought Pyrrha, _"he's able to move very fluidly with nearly lightning fast reflexes. I'll have to keep my distance to defeat him!"_

While Pyrrha was holding off Hakumen, Azrael had his sights on Jaune. Azrael placed his hands halfway into his pockets and slowly walked towards Jaune.

 _"No use in running away!"_ thought Jaune. _"I've got to fight back!"_

Jaune ran towards Azrael with his shield in front and tried to slash Azrael. Azrael knocked Jaune's sword away with just a backswing of his arm, then forward kicked Jaune in the chest and knocked him down. Jaune put his shield away and gripped his sword with both hands. As Jaune ran up to attack Azrael, Azrael stomped the ground and caused part of the earth to pop up and trip Jaune. Azrael grabbed Jaune by his skull and lifted him up to his eye level.

"C'mon, little guppy!" said Azrael. "You can put up a better fight than that, can't you?"

Jaune tried to kick Azrael, but his kicks didn't faze Azrael in the slightest. Azrael responded by punching Jaune into the air; Jaune went flying about twenty feet high before crashing back to the ground.

"How pathetic. You hardly qualify as an appetizer. You're not even worth killing!"

Unsatisfied by Jaune's lack of strength, Azrael turned to see Pyrrha holding her own against Hakumen. Seeing Pyrrha fending Hakumen cause Azrael to smirk and lick his lips.

"Your partner on the other hand...now SHE looks like a feast!"

Hearing Azrael threaten to take down Pyrrha, Jaune tried to crawl over and grab Azrael by the ankles.

"You won't lay a hand on her!" said Jaune before Azrael responded by lifting his foot up and stomping Jaune's back. Despite the armor he was wearing, Jaune felt as if his spine was about to shatter into a million pieces.

As Azrael easily dealt with Jaune, Pyrrha was able to analyze Hakumen's fighting style and work her way around it. As quick and powerful as Hakumen was, his techniques appeared to exhaust a lot of energy out of him, so Pyrrha was waiting until Hakumen seemed fatigued before going on the offensive. With Pyrrha keeping her distance away from Hakumen, Hakumen held up his sword high; Pyrrha took this as a sign he was powering up for a devastating attack that would close the gap between them and prepped herself to dodge at the right moment.

"Empty Sky Form!" shouted Hakumen. "Summer's Advance!"

Just as Hakumen brought down his blade and caused a wave of pure energy to erupt from the ground, Pyrrha ran up and rolled past Hakumen to avoid the attack, leaving Hakumen wide open. Pyrrha gave Hakumen a big upward slash that knocked him into the air, then jumped up after him. After slashing him a few more times, Pyrrha used her polarity to jump off her shield like a platform and wrap her spear around Hakumen's neck, then slammed him down into the ground with a powerbomb.

Just when Pyrrha had the advantage over Hakumen, Azrael suddenly attacked her from behind with his Gustav Buster - punching Pyrrha with a fierce left hook that was enough to knock Pyrrha several feet back. Pyrrha regained her composure and quickly turned to face Azrael, noticing Jaune was lying face down in the red leaves.

"Jaune!" said Pyrrha. "Are you okay?" Jaune tried to respond but could only let out a painful moan.

"Guppy wasn't even good enough to be a snack," remarked Azrael. "I need a REAL meal!"

"I did not ask for your help, Mad Dog!" yelled Hakumen, trying to get back up.

"I don't care about helping you! Once I'm done with her, you're going to be next anyway!"

With Azrael taking his attention off Pyrrha for just a few seconds, Pyrrha tossed her shield at Azrael. The shield struck Azrael in the jaw, but Azrael didn't even flinch; all it did was turn his attention back to Pyrrha, who was already charging straight for him. Azrael grabbed a handful of the ground beneath him and pulled up, ripping it off an entire section of the floor as if it was nothing more than a rug, striking Pyrrha in the stomach and knocking her high into the air. Azrael jumped up and swung his jacket to strike Pyrrha to daze her, then kicked her square in the jaw with a thrust kick, then kicked her again to send her crashing back to the ground.

Azrael walked over to the prone Pyrrha and attempted to grab her by the back of her skull. Pyrrha quickly rolled back to avoid getting grabbed by Azrael, then hid behind her shield as she fired several rounds at Azrael. Azrael swatted the bullets away like they were nothing, then quickly threw his Tiger Magnum punch to Pyrrha's shield, followed by a high kick into a lariat clothesline. Either one of those attacks would have been strong enough to knock off Pyrrha's shield had she not used her Polarity to keep her grip. Seizing an opening after Azrael's attack, Pyrrha then jumped up and kneed Azrael in the face, then slashed him several times with her spear. Azrael tried to counter with his Gustav Buster; Pyrrha ducked and swept Azrael's feet with her spear, then got up and rammed into Azrael with her shield to push him back further. Azrael cranked his neck and smiled.

"Now THIS is a meal worth savoring!" growled Azrael. "Such texture and tenderness...I want MORE!"

"Gladly!" said Pyrrha, extending her spear and running at Azrael. Pyrrha was going to lunge her spear into Azrael when Hakumen suddenly struck from above and slashed down on Pyrrha, knocking her to the ground.

"And who said I needed your help?" asked Azrael.

"I simply took advantage of an opening!" said Hakumen. "I have no interest in helping you either!"

As soon as Pyrrha got up, Hakumen continued his assault on Pyrrha. With Hakumen distracting Pyrrha, Azrael lifted one foot and focused his energy, aiming to finish off Pyrrha with his next attack. Just as Pyrrha used her Polarity to push Hakumen away, Azrael charged in and kicked Pyrrha hard in the ribs with his Valiant Crush technique. As soon as Pyrrha was knocked away, Azrael quickly charged in again and constantly struck Pyrrha with a series of punches and kicks, each strike being just as powerful and deadly as the last. Before Pyrrha landed on the ground, Azrael charged up for his finishing blow, the Black Hawk Stinger. Pyrrha couldn't defend herself as Azrael landed one last punch, sending Pyrrha flying into a tree before finally falling to the ground.

While Pyrrha was fighting both adversaries by herself, all Jaune could do was lie in the leaves and watch Pyrrha take the worst beating he's seen. Once Pyrrha had fallen, Jaune mustered whatever strength he had left and ran over to check on Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha!" yelled Jaune. "Are you okay?"

 **"I'm detecting Pyrrha's aura is getting dangerously low. I'd say she's unable to continue fighting!"**

Pyrrha moved her head slightly up, barely able to open her eyes to look at Jaune.

"I'm sorry, Jaune," said Pyrrha. "I wasn't strong enough to hold them off."

"I'm the one that should be sorry!" said Jaune. "We're getting out of here!"

While Jaune tried to lift Pyrrha onto his shoulder, Hakumen saw this moment as his chance to take out both enemies and seize the Keystone for himself. Hakumen held up his sword high and approached the duo.

"Jaune, look out!" warned Pyrrha.

"Be gone from this world!" yelled Hakumen.

"NO!" yelled Jaune, holding up his shield to try and protect both himself and Pyrrha, praying that by some miracle he would be able to save Pyrrha.

To Jaune's surprise, a miracle was the only way to describe what happened next. Jaune's body suddenly glowed in a bright white light; Hakumen slammed his blade onto Jaune's shield, only for Hakumen to suddenly feel a strong force reverberate off Jaune's shield and strike back at Hakumen. The force was strong enough to send Hakumen flying back several meters; Jaune looked up and saw Hakumen was suddenly knocked out, while feeling his aura starting to rapidly recover.

 **"Whoa! Nice counter blow, Jauney-boy! When'd you learn to do that?"**

"How should I know?" replied a bewildered Jaune.

 _"I could feel Jaune's aura suddenly spike at that moment!"_ thought Pyrrha. _"Could that have been...Jaune's semblance?"_

 **"Anyway, he's certainly not getting up after that!"**

"That means I get the entire feast to myself!" said Azrael.

"Go find somewhere else to eat!" said Jaune. "We're leaving!"

 **"Oh, my bad! I forgot to mention something. Leaving before a fight is officially declared over counts as a forfeit, and that would mean you lose the Keystone."**

"What? Why are you telling me this NOW?"

 **"Sorry! I can't keep track of ALL the rules for this tournament!"**

"I'll be fine, Jaune," said Pyrrha. "Just hold him off for as long as you can."

"Enough wasting my time!" yelled Azrael. "I'm starving!"

Azrael charged into the duo with his Gustav Buster; Jaune dropped Pyrrha and jumped out of the way of Azrael's attack, then quickly ran away to the other side.

"Yes, keep running, my prey! Get that fear sizzling!"

Azrael kept chasing Jaune around the open area the teams were fighting in. Knowing the last time he tried to attack ended up in failure, all Jaune could do was run and block with his shield anytime Azrael was able to get near him.

 _"How am I supposed to beat this guy?"_ thought Jaune. _"C'mon Jaune, there has to be SOMETHING you can do to stop him!"_

As Jaune desperately tried to come up with a plan, Azrael got up close and used his Tiger Magnum combination on Jaune; Jaune blocked with his shield, but Azrael's clothesline was powerful enough to cause Jaune to stumble back and fall over. Jaune noticed that Azrael had used this same attack on Pyrrha before.

 _"I've seen him use all these moves against Pyrrha. Is he just going to try the same thing over and over?"_

With Jaune stumbled over, Azrael leaned back and looked like he was getting ready to throw a powerful punch at Jaune.

 _"I remember this pose! This was the punch he used to knock down Pyrrha's aura!"_

Sure enough, Azrael charged forward with his Black Hawk Stinger technique. Jaune rolled out of the way at the last second to avoid ending up in the same predicament as Pyrrha.

 _"He repeats many of the same attacks! Maybe that's how I can beat him! I have to predict what he'll do and strike at the right moment!"_

"Enough running!" said Azrael. "It's time to eat!"

"Come at me!" said Jaune, standing his ground with his shield and sword, looking like he was ready to fight back.

"Well now, the little guppy has become a big fish! All the more meat to enjoy!"

As Azrael slowly walked over to Jaune, Jaune held up his shield and focused on Azrael's movements.

 _"Okay Jaune, try to remember how he attacks! First, he throws a left uppercut towards my mid-section, then he tries to use a high kick, and then a swinging right punch!"_

Once Azrael was close enough, he started his Tiger Magnum combination by throwing a small left uppercut as Jaune predicted. He then used a high kick as Jaune had seen before. Finally, Azrael swung his right arm at Jaune to knock him back, a move Jaune saw coming. Instead of using his shield to block, Jaune ducked as Azrael completely missed Jaune.

 _"NOW!"_

As soon as Azrael missed, Jaune gripped his sword tight and swung at Azrael, slashing him across the chest. With Azrael caught off guard, Jaune frantically swung his sword at Azrael, slashing at him as much as he could. After about a dozen slashes to Azrael, Azrael stumbled back from the damage he took from Jaune.

"I did it!" said Jaune. "I actually got him!"

Jaune's enthusiasm lasted about three seconds before Azrael suddenly composed himself and had a more sadistic smile on his face.

"I think you're just about done!" growled Azrael, his aura flaring up around him, appearing to get stronger than he already was. Jaune's body was shaking at the sight of Azrael powering up as Jaune suddenly seemed to forget how to move.

"Time to EAT!"

 **"TIME!"**

The sudden interruption by the omnipresent voice caused both fighters to suddenly stop.

"Time?" asked Jaune. "Time for what?"

 **"I've seen this fight last long enough! Based on the current health of all the competitors, I declare the winners to be...Jaune and Pyrrha!"**

"WHAT?" yelled Azrael. "But this fight isn't over!"

 **"According to the rules of the tournament, yes they are! You can beat up Jaune all you want, but then I'd have to penalize you for it!"**

"Does this mean we can go now?" asked Jaune.

 **"Yep! Congrats on protecting your Keystone! Feel free to move on and find your next opponents, Jauney-boy!"**

Jaune breathed a huge sigh of relief as he ran over to check on Pyrrha.

"Can you move?" asked Jaune, helping Pyrrha back to her feet.

"Yeah," said Pyrrha. "My aura should be healed enough by now. Great work, Jaune! I knew you'd be able to get us out of this jam!"

Jaune's face turned red from Pyrrha complimenting him. The two huntsmen were about to leave when they were suddenly confronted by their two opponents again.

"I don't care what that voice says!" yelled Azrael. "I'm not leaving without my meal!"

"And I'm not leaving without that Keystone!" yelled Hakumen.

The unlikely alliance charged after the huntsmen; Pyrrha used her semblance to throw Hakumen into Azrael.

"What gives?" yelled Jaune. "Hey, random voice lady! Aren't you going to penalize them for this?"

 **"Yeah...the last thing I'm going to do is penalize these two nutbars! You're on your own!"**

"Run, Jaune!" said Pyrrha. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

"What? But I can't-"

"I'll be fine! It's more important you protect the Keystone! GO!"

With Jaune not wanting to stick around and fight these two madmen, Jaune immediately turned around and ran as fast as he could into the forest while Pyrrha fought off Azrael and Hakumen.

 _"This is just great!"_ thought Jaune. _"We're stuck in an entirely different world, a weird voice is telling us what to do, crazy strong people are after us, I have no idea where to get these Keystones, and now I'm separated from my entire team! What am I going to do now?"_


	2. How to be a Real Man

**A/N: Ruby won EVO! Congrats to Heiho winning with the team of Ruby and Gordeau. Team Scythe FTW! Anyway, some notes about the chapter:**

 **Technically Kanji isn't playable in Episode mode because he's DLC, but screw it, I think him and Jaune would have the best interactions together. Also, for timeline's sake, this takes place after the events of Persona 4 Arena.**

 **To answer a Guest's question from the reviews, only Team JNPR from the RWBY World is in the tournament.**

* * *

 _Junes Food Court - Inaba_

Jaune didn't know how, but amid him running for what seemed likes miles, he suddenly found himself in a place that looked like a food court at one of the malls he'd visit in Vale. Before he could get any bearings of where exactly he was, he collapsed to the ground, exhausted from all the running he had to do, feeling like he was about to pass out any given second.

 _"Please let this be all a dream!"_ thought Jaune. _"I'm going to wake up back in my dorm and everything will be back to normal! No Keystones, no crazy people coming after me, and no stupid voice telling me to fight in a tournament!"_

Meanwhile, wandering around the empty Junes mall was a high school freshman named Kanji Tatsumi, who wore his school uniform over his shoulders and wore his trademark skull and crossbones shirt, giving off the essence of a thug. Kanji went into every store he could, hoping to come across one of his friends from school.

"Yu-senpai!" said Kanji. "Yosuke-senpai! Is there anyone here?" Kanji kept calling out to his friends but didn't get any kind of response.

 _"Shit, am I in the Midnight Channel again? I don't remember falling through a TV. The last thing I remember was being in my room working on my dolls, and then suddenly I'm here. Maybe I just fell asleep again? But this feels too real to be a dream-"_

Kanji's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard what sounded like someone collapsing near the food court.

"What was that? Is somebody out there?"

Kanji ran over to the food court and found a blonde kid around the same age as his friends down on the ground. He was also wearing what looked like armor and carrying a sword sheathed by his side. Kanji flipped the kid on his back and nudged him to wake him up.

"Hey man, you all right?" asked Kanji. Jaune moaned and tried to swat Kanji's hand away. At least Kanji knew he was conscious. "Hey, if can you hear me, wake up!"

Jaune slowly opened his eyes and saw a rough looking kid staring down at him. Fearing he was another enemy, Jaune freaked out and immediately jumped back to his feet, pulling out his sword. Kanji took a few steps back to avoid suddenly getting slashed by this strange kid.

"Whoa!" yelled Kanji. "Relax, man! I'm not trying to hurt you!"

"Stay back!" yelled Jaune. "You're not getting my Keystone!"

"Keystone? The hell are you talking about?"

"You know, the Keystone! I need it to get home and you're not taking it from me!"

"I don't know what you're going on about...but it sounds like you're asking for a fight!"

Kanji grabbed the closest folding chair he could find and held it up high. It wasn't exactly the best defense against a sword, but it was better than nothing.

"I don't like resorting to violence, but when push comes to shove, Kanji Tatsumi is ready to go!"

"Br-bring it on!" said Jaune, holding his sword high above his head to try and look intimidating, although he started to doubt if it was going to work against such a tough looking badass. Before either of them could throw the first punch, something about Jaune's outfit caught Kanji's attention.

"Wait a second," said Kanji, putting his chair down. "What's that under your armor?"

"Huh?" asked Jaune.

"Your clothes. It looked like there was a...bunny logo or something?"

Jaune started to really panic when he realized Kanji was going to see through Jaune's deception.

 _"If he finds out about my hoodie, he'll surely take it as a sign he can kick my butt! All right Jaune, time to go all Spruce Willis on this guy!"_

"It's nothing!" said Jaune, trying to sound serious. "What's it to you, anyway? You think you're so tough because you got those crossbones on your clothes, and that awesome jacket hanging over your shoulders? Well you're...you're just a POSER!"

"What the hell, man?" said Kanji. "I was just curious! No need to put on some damn tough guy act!"

"This isn't an act, MAN! I'm not scared of a LOSER like you!"

"...is that why you're slowly backing away from me?"

Jaune's act was quickly foiled by the fact Jaune was slowly trying to step away from Kanji, clearly showing how scared he was to fight.

"N-n-no!" replied Jaune. "I'm just...strategizing...um..."

"Cut the crap and answer my damn question!" yelled Kanji, losing his patience. "What the hell is that logo on your hoodie?!"

"All right, I'll admit it!" said Jaune, breaking down just from the tone of Kanji's voice. "It's of Pumpkin Pete! He's my favorite cereal mascot! I even have his footie pajamas! I'm not really some badass tough guy! Please have mercy on me!"

Jaune got on his knees and begged for Kanji to not harm him in any way. When he saw Kanji smirking, he was worried it was going to be followed by Kanji making fun of him for being a coward.

"Heh...I think it looks pretty cute!" replied Kanji.

"Wait...what?" said Jaune, standing back up. "You think my hoodie is...cute?"

"Honestly, I'd love to get one of those hoodies for myself, but then people would just make fun of me even more for it."

"People make fun of you? But...you look like the kind of guy who would make fun of others!"

"Because you took one look at me and thought I was some kind of bully that beats up people for fun, right?"

"Well...yes?"

Kanji suddenly opened his folding chair and slammed it to the ground, taking a seat and looking pissed off all over again.

"This is exactly the kind of shit I get back home!" said Kanji. "Everyone thinks I'm some juvenile who loves skipping school and beating people up. What I really like is sewing and cooking, and I never break curfew!"

"So, you pretend to be the tough guy or else people will take you for a wimp?"

"Wimp is putting it lightly, but yeah."

"Wow," said Jaune, grabbing a chair and sitting across from Kanji. "I really had you pegged wrong there. Sorry about that...Kanji, was it? Oh, I'm Jaune Arc by the way."

Jaune held out his hand for a handshake, hoping to make amends with Kanji. Kanji sighed and shook Jaune's hand.

"It's all right," said Kanji. "No big deal. So, where are you from anyway, Jaune? You don't look like someone who lives in Inaba."

"I'm from Vale, currently attending Beacon Academy."

"Vale? Beacon Academy? Is that like in...Europe or something?"

"Huh? What's Europe?"

"You don't know what...on second thought, never mind. I'm already confused as to where we really are."

"You and me both. How did you end up wherever 'here' is anyway?"

"I don't know. I was at home working on a doll and then...I was just here. What about you?"

"I was training with my team when this voice suddenly tells me I'm in a tournament to find Keystones."

"Oh yeah...you were yelling something about a Keystone before. What exactly are these Keystones?"

"Um...promise if I show you the Keystone, you're not going to try and take it from me?"

"I don't steal shit, all right?!" yelled Kanji, angry at what Jaune was implying about him.

"Sorry!" said Jaune, scared of seeing a pissed off Kanji. "It's just I have no idea what's going on and the last thing I want is to lose the Keystone!"

"I swear on my own mother, I am not going to do anything to your Keystone!"

"Well...if you say so..."

Jaune slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his Keystone, keeping an eye on Kanji in case he wasn't true to his word. Kanji tried to look at all sides of the Keystone, but only seemed bewildered.

"That's it?" asked Kanji. "Does it do anything?"

"I have no clue," said Jaune. "All I know is I need to collect these to find my way home by having to fight other people in this tournament."

As Kanji tried to get a closer look, a shadow suddenly appeared over them and seemed to get bigger. Jaune looked up and freaked out when he saw someone or something falling straight out of the sky towards them.

"Take cover!" yelled Jaune, grabbing his Keystone and jumping out of his seat. Kanji looked up and saw the unidentified object before joining Jaune in taking cover. The two knocked over a table and hid behind it as the unknown entity crashed into the ground with enough force to nearly blow away all the furniture in the area.

Jaune peaked up from behind the table to see what fell from the sky and could barely comprehend what he saw. Standing in the crash area was a huge man with dark red skin and what appeared to be giant metal gauntlets covering his hand and forearm. The only thing keeping Jaune from assuming he was staring down a literal demon was the strange yellow glasses that completely covered the man's eyes.

 _"Holy Ursa!"_ thought Jaune. _"This guy is even bigger than those two crazy guys I fought before! Maybe if I run away now I can-"_

"Hey!" said Kanji, standing up and approaching the demon. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

 _"Did Kanji...just walk up to him and ask who he was? He's either the bravest man in the world or the craziest!"_

"My name is Tager," calmly replied the giant red man. "And you have something that interests me."

"Huh? What would I have that you'd want?"

"Not you! Him!" Tager pointed to Jaune, who felt compelled to stand up as soon as Tager pointed to him, shaking in fear at the sight of him.

"Um...is it my hoodie?" asked Jaune.

"That crystal you were just holding. That's one of the Keystones, isn't it?"

"Oh, no! That wasn't a Keystone! It was...a..."

Failing to come up with a good lie, Jaune turned around and tried bolting out of the food court, only to run into what felt like a brick wall and falling on his butt from not paying attention to what was in front of him.

"You okay, Jaune?" asked Kanji, helping Jaune up.

"Where did this wall come from?" asked Jaune.

"Uh, Jaune...you didn't run into a wall."

"Then what did-"

Jaune looked up and realized he had bumped into another monster that suddenly appeared. This one was a giant as well, only he had long white hair on both his head and his chest, and arms that had to be about a hundred feet long - at least by Jaune's estimate - with giant metal claws attached to them.

 _"This claw monster is even bigger than the red one!"_ thought Jaune. _"His claws are the size of me!"_

"This is the one with the Keystone?" asked the giant claw monster. "How did such a pathetic wimp wind up with the stone?"

 _"Oh God, I'm dead! There's no way I can possibly handle one of them, let alone TWO of them!"_

"Hey!" yelled Kanji. "I don't know the who hell you two are, but if either of you are trying to take this guy's Keystone, you're gonna have to go through me!"

"Then it's settled!" said the claw monster as he laughed. "Let us defeat these foes and move on!"

"Now hold on, Waldstein," said Tager. "I want to get more information before we decide our next course of action."

"What more information could you possibly want? We are here to FIGHT, not have an idle chat!"

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. You'd best remember that idiom, Waldstein!"

"I am no fool, Red Devil! I am strong enough to take out both scrawny weaklings by myself!"

"I'd like to see you try, old man!" yelled Kanji, grabbing a folding chair and getting ready to fight.

While Waldstein and Kanji were anxiously waiting to start fighting, Jaune stood there like he was watching his life flash before his eyes, his skin becoming pale as a ghost, which Jaune assumed he was going to be in about one minute. Tager on the other hand simply sighed and adjusted his glasses.

"If you two want to duke it out, be my guests," said Tager. "I'll be discussing important matters with our holder of the Keystone here."

"Talking!" said Jaune. "Yes! That sounds MUCH better than fighting, don't you think so, Kanji?"

"Hell no!" said Kanji. "A real man doesn't back down from a fight, even when it looks like he can be outmatched! So, c'mon then, are you gonna fight me or what?!"

Seeing Kanji showing no fear in going up against him, Waldstein couldn't help but smile.

"I like this boy's guts!" said Waldstein. "He certainly has potential to become a true man! Perhaps we can spare some time before sparring against each other."

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief before he suddenly felt Tager's giant hand on his shoulder.

"Now that cooler heads have prevailed," said Tager, "let's talk about that Keystone."

"You're not going to try and take it from me, are you?" asked Jaune.

"Only if the situation calls for it."

 _"Well that's not assuring!"_ thought Jaune, his stomach twisting itself back into knots. _"I have to find a way to get out of here without having to fight these guys!"_

"For starters, how did you end up with the Keystone in the first place?" asked Tager.

"It was just given to me by that random voice, I swear!" said Jaune, already feeling panicked.

"So, you heard the voice too. Did the voice explain what to do with the Keystone?"

"She said I need all of the Keystones so me and my friends can go back home."

"All of them? Interesting..."

"I have a question of my own!" said Waldstein. "What is it that you two boys do to train your bodies?"

"Waldstein, what does that matter to the situation at hand?"

"Since we're here just talking instead of fighting, I just thought I'd ask."

Tager sighed and adjusted his glasses, losing his patience with his partner. Jaune however saw this as a chance to get on Waldstein's good side to possibly avoid a fight.

"Fighting monsters on a near-daily basis!" said Jaune. "I also have a friend who is a tournament champion that trains me personally!"

"Sounds like quite a regimen, although based on how you look, you clearly have a longs way to go, young boy."

"Of course! I'll keep at it until my arms are as big as yours, Mister Waldstein!"

"As for you?" asked Waldstein, turning his attention to Kanji.

"Well...," said Kanji, "the truth is, I don't really have time to work out between school, helping my mom, and my other hobbies."

"What other hobbies could you possibly have?"

"To be honest, I spend most of my free time sewing and cooking."

Waldstein looked unimpressed by Kanji's response.

"Sewing and cooking?" said Waldstein. "How do you expect to grow your body and fight like a real man when you waste your time with such trivial activities?"

"So?" replied Kanji. "What the hell is it to you what I like to do?"

"Can we get back to discussing the Keystone?" said Tager, sounding annoyed about everyone going off on unrelated tangents.

"And here I thought you had potential to be a real man!" said Waldstein.

"The hell is THAT supposed to mean?" yelled Kanji. Seeing Kanji losing his cool, Jaune realized his chances of escaping unharmed was going out the window.

"Calm down, Kanji!" said Jaune. "Just ignore him!"

"A man who would rather waste his time on such childish hobbies instead of training his body to perfection is not a real man at all! You will never become strong, child!"

Hearing Waldstein says those words triggered some terrible memories from Kanji's past. Jaune could see veins starting to appear on Kanji's forehead as he was grinding his teeth.

 _"No no no no!"_ thought Jaune. _"Kanji, whatever you do, don't instigate a fight!"_

"Was that really necessary, Waldstein?" said Tager.

"If this boy wants to become a man," said Waldstein, "then he-"

"SO YOU DON'T THINK I'M A REAL MAN, ASSHOLE?!" screamed Kanji.

 _"Oh no!"_ thought Jaune. _"Kanji's totally lost his cool!"_

"Being a real man has nothing to do with looking strong or doing masculine shit! Being a real man is all about standing up to adversity and protecting people you love! Yeah, I freaking love sewing and cooking; I love collecting dolls and cute little phone charms; and I don't need freakish looking arms or giant freaking claws to fight like a real man! I'll take looking like a 'scrawny weakling' who loves cute shit over an overgrown piece of dog turd like you any day, you old bastard!"

A long awkward silence followed Kanji's speech as the other three men couldn't believe Kanji's outburst.

"Holy crap, Kanji," muttered Jaune.

"Such language," muttered Tager.

"You may not look like a man," said Waldstein, "but you certainly talk like one." With one swing of his giant arms, Waldstein knocked all the remaining furniture and furiously looked at Kanji. "And I'm going to rip your tongue out for that last remark, BOY!"

 **"It sounds like our contestants are finally done chatting and are ready to start pummeling each other!"**

"Who the hell said that?" yelled Kanji.

"That's the voice behind this whole tournament!" said Jaune. "Um, voice lady? Could you NOT make this a match, please?"

 **"Sorry, but that's not going to happen! Once we have opposing participants who are truly willing to fight each other, the match becomes official!"**

"But I'm not willing to fight! Can't you call it off?"

 **"Rules are rules, Jauney-boy! Runaway now and I'll have to disqualify you and void your possession of the Keystone!"**

"Ooooh..." moaned Jaune. Left without a choice, Jaune unsheathed his sword and got into his fighting stance.

"I guess we don't have a choice," said Tager. "Let's commence our battle."

"Let's see how much a 'real man' you really are, boy!" said Waldstein.

"Bring it on!" said Kanji. "They don't call me the Bloodcurdling Beefcake Emperor for nothing!"

 _"Beefcake Emperor?"_ thought Jaune.

 **"All right! Now this is a hell of a matchup! On one side we have the Mama's Boys, and on the other we have the Big Boys! Gentlemen, to your positions!"**

Seeing how they were the two that wanted to fight the most, Kanji and Waldstein took the center stage and waited for the mysterious voice to give the official go ahead.

 **"Annnnd...FIGHT!"**

Kanji wasted no time recklessly rushing towards Waldstein; before Kanji could even get close enough to swing his chair at Waldstein, Waldstein knocked Kanji into the air with an upward swing of his claws, then grabbed him mid-air and squeezed the life out of him with his giant hands before slamming Kanji back to the ground. As Waldstein was about to pick up Kanji, Kanji suddenly threw a dropkick into Waldstein's knees, causing Waldstein to trip over. Kanji immediately followed up by jumping on top of Waldstein and driving his chair into the back of Waldstein's neck.

"How do you like that, huh?" yelled Kanji as he kept trying to beat down on Waldstein with his chair.

"Is that all you've got?" replied Waldstein, grabbing Kanji with one claw and landing a strong headbutt to Kanji's forehead. With Kanji in a daze, Waldstein grabbed Kanji with both claws, trapping him in his iron-tight grip. "Let me show you what real strength looks like, boy!"

Waldstein lifted Kanji up and slammed him down to the ground so hard it caused an indent on the concrete floor. Seeing that indent caused Jaune to cringe, imagining the pain Kanji must be going through. The worst part was Waldstein wasn't even done as he slammed Kanji down again, then somehow took to the air and somersaulted several times before slamming Kanji down again, this time with even more force than before. Kanji lied still in the crater, feeling immense pain course through his entire body.

"Get up, boy!" commanded Waldstein. Kanji tried to get up, but could barely move from the pain he was in.

 _"If I don't get in there, Kanji's a dead man!"_ thought Jaune.

As Waldstein picked up the prone Kanji to dish out even more pain, Jaune ran up to Waldstein and slashed him across the back. The slash barely affected Waldstein, but did succeed in getting his attention.

"I guess it's your turn, then!" said Waldstein, tossing Kanji aside like he was nothing.

 _"Just looking at this guy is going to give me nightmares!"_ thought Jaune, trembling in fear just by looking at Waldstein's angry expression. _"But I need to buy as much time as I can for Kanji! Here goes nothing!"_

Jaune frantically swung his sword at Waldstein, who only needed to hold up one of his giant claws to block Jaune's wild swings. Jaune kept swinging until he exhausted himself, allowing Waldstein to use his Wirbelwind technique to slash Jaune with his claws several times; not even Jaune's armor was enough to protect Jaune from Waldstein's strength. Seeing how going on offense was clearly not the best idea, Jaune started backing away from Waldstein while holding his shield to protect himself.

 _"I should be safe as long as I'm out of his rea-"_

Just when Jaune thought he'd be safe from Waldstein, Waldstein suddenly charged towards Jaune and grabbed him, ramming Jaune into the vending machines on the edge of the food court. Without missing a beat, Waldstein then turned around and rammed Jaune into the main Junes building all the way across the other side, nearly knocking down the entire wall. Jaune dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes once Waldstein was through with him.

"HA HA HA HA!" laughed Waldstein. "I haven't even broken a sweat yet!"

As Waldstein mocked how weak Jaune and Kanji were, Tager was simply standing aside and observing the fight. It was clear to Tager that these young men were far outclassed by both himself and Waldstein.

 _"These kids are brave,"_ thought Tager, _"but they're no match for us at all. I almost feel pity for them, but I have to focus on my mission."_

With Kanji finally able to get back to his feet, he ran over to Jaune to make sure he was still breathing after taking such a beating.

"Jaune, are you okay?" asked Kanji.

"Not really," said Jaune, feeling his entire body aching in agony. "But I'll live...hopefully."

"I'm sorry, man! This is all my fault! I let that asshole get under my skin and dragged you into a fight!"

Kanji punched the wall behind Jaune, angry with himself for allowing Jaune to get hurt because of his ego.

"Damn it! This would be so much easier if I can use my Persona!"

"Your Persona?" said Jaune. "What's a Persona?"

"It's like a special summoning I have, but only when I'm in the Midnight Channel, and since whatever this place is isn't that, it might as well be useless!"

"Well...have you tried calling it out?"

"Why? I just said I can't use it here!"

"We may not be in this 'Midnight Channel,' but who knows with this place? Maybe if you concentrate hard enough, you can bring out your Persona here!"

"Have you two boys decided to give up?" asked Waldstein. "Or do you wish to continue?"

"I'm not through with you yet, old man!" said Kanji, grabbing his chair and walking towards Waldstein. Kanji held out his arm and tried to concentrate on calling out his Persona. _"I'm not sure this will work, but we've got nothing else to lose!"_

Waldstein spread his arms wide, then quickly brought them together to crush Kanji within his claws.

"PERSONA!" yelled Kanji just before Waldstein grabbed him.

As soon as Waldstein had Kanji within his grasp, Waldstein suddenly felt a huge amount of voltage surging through his body, forcing Waldstein to let go of Kanji and fall back. Kanji looked behind him and saw his giant beefed up machinal Persona known as Take-Mikazuchi standing by his side.

"Hey, it really worked!" said Kanji.

"Is that your Persona?" said Jaune. "That thing looks so cool!"

"So, you have some latent abilities after all!" said Waldstein. "No matter! You're still a weakling compared to me, boy!"

"Let's kick his ass, Take-Mikazuchi!" commanded Kanji.

Take-Mikazuchi created a blade in the shape of a giant lightning bolt and swung down on Waldstein; Waldstein used his hands to grab the bolt, leaving him open for Take-Mikazuchi to use his other arm to swipe Waldstein's legs, forcing him closer to Kanji. Kanji ran in and struck Waldstein with his chair several times, finishing it off by having his Persona shoulder tackle Waldstein with enough force to push him back. Frustrated from being bested by Kanji, Waldstein decided to attack from the air; despite his size, Waldstein was able to jump several feet high. Waldstein held his chest out, planning to crush Kanji with his sheer size and strength.

"Big mistake, old man!" said Kanji, sending his Persona after Waldstein. Take-Mikazuchi grabbed Waldstein and electrocuted him, then slammed him back down to the ground. While Take-Mikazuchi kept Waldstein busy, Kanji unfolded his chair and placed it in front of him. Once Waldstein crashed to the ground, Kanji got on his chair and jumped high; as Waldstein got up, Kanji tackled Waldstein back to the ground, landing on top of Waldstein's chest. With Waldstein left wide open, Kanji proceeded to unleash every punch he could into Waldstein's face.

"Still think I'm some scrawny-ass pushover?" yelled Kanji. Kanji balled his fists together and was going to knock Waldstein's teeth down his throat when he was suddenly struck by a giant ball of electricity and pushed off Waldstein.

"Are you all right, Kanji?" asked Jaune.

"Nothing I haven't felt before," said Kanji, getting back to his feet. The two of them looked over and saw Tager slowly walking up to them after he had fired his Spark Bolt.

"Did you forget I'm part of this battle, too?" said Tager. "I may not be as hot-headed as my partner, but I am a soldier who knows when it's time to stop talking and start fighting."

"Then show me how much of a soldier you really are!" said Waldstein, deciding to stand back and see if Tager could do more than just talk.

"I've got a bad feeling about this guy!" said Jaune.

"I wouldn't worry about him!" said Kanji. "Look at the way this dude walks; I think he's even slower than the old guy!"

Tager stopped where he was and held one arm across his body as he charged up his gauntlet. Kanji ran in assuming he'd be able to take advantage of a slow Tager when Tager suddenly rushed in at lightning fast speed and struck Kanji with a backswing of his arm. Before Kanji realized what was happening, Tager slugged Kanji with an overhead swing, then picked him up and shocked him with his fingers.

"Still think I'm slow, rookie?" said Tager, holding his arms wide as if challenging Kanji to come straight at him. Pissed off at being taken by surprise, Kanji did exactly that, holding his chair high and ready to break Tager's face with it. As Kanji tried to swing his chair, he suddenly felt himself pushed off into the hands of Tager, who tossed him all the way to the other side of the food court, once again leaving Jaune to fend for himself.

 _"Did Kanji just let himself get thrown like that?"_ thought Jaune. _"How could he not see how close he was to Tager?"_

"Now it's between you and me," said Tager. "Nothing personal soldier, but I can't afford to lose."

"Well neither can I!" replied Jaune.

Rather than try attacking Tager like he did with Waldstein, Jaune held up his shield and backed away as quick as he could until he could come up with a plan. Tager bent down and charged himself up, then tackled into Jaune head-on. Despite trying to distance himself, Jaune felt as if he was somehow drawn towards Tager as Tager tackled into him. Tager kept clubbing Jaune with swings of his giant gauntlets, then knocked Jaune into the air and quickly grabbed him to slam him back down to the ground. Tager expected Jaune to get up and try attacking, but instead Jaune rolled back and continued trying to cover behind his shield.

"You're going to need to attack at some point, soldier!" said Tager, charging up his gauntlets to strike again. Seeing Jaune not wanting to fight, Kanji ran back in and had Take-Mikazuchi block Tager's attack.

"Not to pile on," said Kanji, "but he's right! You need to stand up and fight like a man, Jaune!"

As Kanji and Tager continued their electric duel, Jaune was trying to figure out something that had been bothering him about Tager. Aside from Tager's incredible strength, Jaune could have sworn he felt something was pushing him towards Tager.

 _"It felt like he was forcing me to get closer to him! In fact, it almost feels like..."_ Jaune looked down on the ground and noticed some of the metal objects scattered around the food court were slightly moving towards Tager after Tager used some of his attacks. Jaune was starting to put all the pieces together in his head. _"He must have some kind of power over polarity like Pyrrha does!"_

"Kanji!" said Jaune. "I have an idea!"

"Tell me it involves kicking his ass instead of running away!" said Kanji.

"When I give the signal, throw your chair as hard as you can at him!"

"Just throw my chair? What kind of plan is that?"

"Trust me on this!"

Kanji had no idea what Jaune was thinking, but he did come up with the idea for Kanji to use his Persona, so he decided to place his trust in Jaune. Jaune kept an eye on the closest metal object lying next to Tager. Tager kneeled and was charging up to tackle; Jaune saw a chair falling towards Tager, indicating Tager's magnetic ability was active.

"Now!" yelled Jaune. As soon as Tager charged, Kanji threw his folding chair at Tager; with the help of Tager's magnetism, the chair went flying straight for Tager, nailing Tager right between the eyes and bouncing upward. Seeing the opportunity to follow up, Kanji nailed Tager in the face with a front kick. As Tager staggered back, Kanji jumped up and slugged Tager in the face with a big left haymaker, strong enough to knock Tager down. With Kanji's attack distracting Tager, Jaune ran behind Tager and drew out his sword. Jaune and Kanji nodded to each other to let the other know they were ready for their next attack.

"You just got a Tatsumi-style ass-whoopin'!" said Kanji.

"Is that the best you've got?" remarked Tager.

Just as Tager stood back up, Kanji's chair landed back down on top of Tager's head. That brief momentary distraction was all Kanji needed to begin their team attack. Kanji called out his Persona and had him slash Tager with his blade, while Jaune swung as fast as he could with his. Tager was unable to defend himself as Kanji and Jaune kept attacking him. With Tager staggering on his feet, Kanji picked up his chair and landed the hardest headshot he could on Tager, causing Tager to fall flat on his face. Jaune couldn't believe they were able to take one of them down together.

"That was freaking awesome teamwork, man!" said Kanji, holding his fist up for a bump.

"Thanks, man!" said Jaune, fist bumping Kanji.

While Jaune and Kanji were feeling proud of themselves, Tager felt embarrassed for underestimating what these kids were capable of. Clearly it was now time to stop holding back from his true strength.

"I have to admit you two are a bigger challenge than I thought," said Tager. "BUT THAT ENDS HERE!"

Tager used his electro-magnetism to suddenly draw Kanji towards him. Grabbing Kanji with one hand, Tager spun around and tossed Kanji several dozen feet high.

"THIS TIME I'M NOT HOLDING BACK! SAY YOUR PRAYERS!"

Using his electro-magnetism, Tager flew towards Kanji; Kanji tried to focus and use his Persona to attack Tager, but Tager grabbed Kanji by his shirt, breaking his concentration as they headed back to the ground. Tager slammed Kanji face first into the ground with such force that it created a crater, nearly taking out the entire seating area of the food court; Jaune dodged Tager's incoming landing to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

"I suggest you stay down, rookie!" said Tager, opening his gauntlets to let out some excessive steam as he adjusted his glasses.

 _"This guy really is a demon!"_ thought Jaune, scared out of his wits at seeing the combative side of Tager truly come out.

With Kanji lying in the crater, Tager turned his attention to Jaune.

"I may be a soldier," said Tager, "but I'm not ruthless. I can tell from the way you're shaking you know you can't win, so instead of fighting for nothing, I'll let you off in exchange for the Keystone."

 _"What do I do?"_ thought Jaune. _"He's right! There's no way I can beat him and the claw guy by myself...but if I lose the Keystone, I can't get my friends home!"_

As Jaune was feeling torn apart on what decision to make, Tager felt something grab his ankle. Tager looked down and saw Kanji grasping at Tager's metallic legs to lift himself up.

"You still want more after all that?" asked Tager.

"Damn right, I do!" said Kanji, despite the fact he was barely able to stand up straight.

"If you insist!"

Before Tager could put Kanji out of his misery, he suddenly felt a sharp claw grab him by the shoulder.

"Stand down, Red Devil!" said Waldstein. "I still have a score to settle with this boy!"

"Just make it quick," remarked Tager, standing aside to let Waldstein settle his beef.

"I'm not scared of you, old man!" said Kanji. Kanji took one step forward and fell to his knees; no matter how tough Kanji tried to sound, it was clear as day his body couldn't handle any more pain. Jaune realized he had no choice but to step up and fight.

"Hey, old guy with the claws!" yelled Jaune. "Try fighting someone who can fight back!"

"Hmmm?" said Waldstein. "Did you just challenge me?"

"Darn right I did! Unless you're suddenly scared!"

"I can't tell if you're brave or just stupid...but so be it!"

"What the hell are you doing, Jaune?" asked Kanji.

"You can barely walk, let alone fight!" said Jaune. "I'm not going to let yourself get killed over this!"

"And you think you'll do any better? He's going to annihilate your ass, man!"

"Well...it's like you said, Kanji. A real man fights even when he's outmatched...right?"

Jaune held his shield up and ran towards Waldstein. Waldstein simply used one arm to punch Jaune with his claws and nearly send him to the far end of the food court. Despite this setback, Jaune just stood right back up and charged at Waldstein again. Anytime Jaune got within Waldstein's reach, Waldstein would simply knock Jaune down with his giant claws. No matter what Waldstein did to him, Jaune kept trying to attack Waldstein; his slashes to Waldstein barely did any damage, but in Jaune's mind, as long as he kept Waldstein away from Kanji, it was all worth it.

"I've wasted enough time with you!" said Waldstein, grabbing Jaune with both hands and slamming Jaune to the ground. Waldstein then took high into the air with his limbs stretched out, coming down on Jaune with the full force of his body, causing yet another crater in the food court.

Witnessing Jaune get completely crushed under Waldstein, Kanji frantically crawled over to Jaune to make sure he wasn't somehow dead.

"Jaune!" yelled Kanji. "Say something, man!"

"My entire body feels like it broke," muttered Jaune.

 **"OOOH that was painful to watch! Jaune's aura is just about kaput! I'm afraid he's not going to be able to keep fighting!"**

"I really screwed up this time," said Jaune. "I guess my friends and I...aren't going back..."

"Quit saying that shit, man!" said Kanji, trying to hold back his tears. "If anyone screwed this up, it was me!"

Jaune held up his hand and gave Kanji a weak smile.

"Thanks for your help, Kanji. For a guy I just met...you were a cool dude."

Kanji felt bad enough seeing Jaune laying there helplessly, but felt even worse when Jaune called him a "cool dude", even though it was Kanji's temper that got them into this fight in the first place. Kanji grabbed Jaune's hand and wanted to say something about how he'd get Jaune out of here or something - even though he knew it would have been a lie - when he suddenly felt a surge of power rising within himself.

 _"What the hell?"_ thought Kanji. _"My body feels like...like it's getting amped up! Where the hell is this coming from?"_

"Any last words before I put you down for good, boy?" asked Waldstein.

Kanji didn't know what was happening to him, but it definitely felt like he could keep fighting. Kanji let go of Jaune's hand and stood back up on his own two feet, wiping the tears in his eyes.

"My name isn't 'boy'!" said Kanji. "It's KANJI FREAKING TATSUMI!"

Kanji headed straight for Waldstein without an ounce of fear in him. Waldstein swung his arms forward to grab Kanji; suddenly, Kanji jumped over Waldstein's arms and rammed the edge of his chair into Waldstein. Before Waldstein could counter, Kanji went berserk attacking Waldstein with his chair; somehow, the strength of Kanji's chair shots were amplified, causing Waldstein to take actual damage. Kanji swung his chair upward, nailing Waldstein in the jaw and causing him to get knocked down. Frustrated by being overpowered by a weakling, Waldstein got up and tried to grab Kanji; Kanji's Persona appeared and electrocuted Waldstein, causing him to get knocked down again. As Waldstein tried to get up, Kanji got up close and grabbed Waldstein by his thick chest hair.

"Time to end this!" yelled Kanji. Kanji flung Waldstein up high, shocking everyone who witnessed Kanji's unbelievable strength. While Waldstein was in mid-air, Kanji called out his Persona. "Take-Mikazuchi! Crush him to dust!"

Take-Mikazuchi appeared and grabbed Waldstein as he came down, ramming Waldstein into the Junes building and sending thousands of volts of electricity into him. By the time Take-Mikazuchi was done, Waldstein collapsed to the ground.

 **"Well, that was certainly a 'shocking' comeback from Kanji! I sense Waldstein's energy is too low for him to continue!"**

Hearing that voice announce Waldstein was eliminated, Jaune tried to sit up to see what was going on.

 _"Did...did Kanji really take down that guy?"_ thought Jaune. Tager was trying to figure out where Kanji's sudden surge in strength came from.

 _"His power increased the moment he grabbed that boy's hand,"_ thought Tager. _"Could it be that boy has a power to strengthen others, or is there another X factor in play?"_

"Guess it's just down to you and me, demon!" said Kanji, pointing his chair towards Tager.

"You're quite resilient, rookie," said Tager. "But your luck has run out!"

Tager quickly created a Spark Bolt and fired at Kanji; Take-Mikazuchi electrified Kanji to absorb the bolt as Kanji rushed towards Tager. Kanji threw a dropkick to Tager's legs; Tager ducked down and blocked Kanji's dropkick, then tackled into Kanji to push him back. Take-Mikazuchi swung his lightning bolt blade down on Tager; Tager opened his gauntlets and unleashed his own surge of electricity on Take-Mikazuchi, which in turn damaged Kanji. As Kanji staggered from Tager's Charged Lightning, Tager grabbed Kanji and tossed him upwards, wasting no time in jumping up and grabbing him, slamming Kanji onto his shoulders with a Tager Driver before dropping him to the ground. As Kanji was trying to catch his breath, Tager's gauntlets opened as he charged up to his maximum voltage.

"My Magna-Tech Wheel should be enough to finish you off!" Tager held his arms out and rapidly spun around, creating a powerful electrical force as he crept closer to Kanji.

Take-Mikazuchi stood in front of Kanji to block Tager's onslaught of hits, but eventually had to back off when it became too much. Tager planned to end it with one more powerful punch with his Tera Break technique. Tager stopped spinning to throw his final punch with all his might; despite looking limp, Kanji was able to duck Tager's punch at the last second, leaving Tager open for a counterattack.

"Just what I was waiting for!" said Kanji. "Let's finish this!"

Using his newfound strength, Kanji swung his chair upwards to send Tager flying up to Take-Mikazuchi, who threw his lightning bolt down on Tager, keeping Tager suspended in mid-air. With Tager stuck in mid-air, Kanji and Take-Mikazuchi got ready to use their ultimate team attack.

"This one's for you, Jaune! My ultimate Bro Fist!"

As soon as Tager dropped between them, Kanji and Take-Mikazuchi threw a pair of charged up punches at the same time; the voltage emitting from their punches shining as bright as the sun. Not even Tager's own electric abilities was enough to protect him from the damage he took. Tager was barely conscious by the time he finally landed back on the ground. Kanji himself was feeling exhausted as he can feel his power just about drained at this point.

 **"Tager is unable to keep battling! So with that, I declare Kanji and Jaune the winners!"**

"Wait, seriously?" asked Kanji. "We won?"

"We won!" said Jaune, sitting back up. "Way to go, man!"

 **"Talk about a major upset! I'm glad I didn't put any money down on this fight!"**

"You really pulled through for me, man! I owe you one!"

Kanji smiled and helped Jaune back to his feet. "You don't owe me anything, dude. I couldn't have done this without you."

Before Jaune and Kanji can properly rest, they were once again greeted by Tager and Waldstein. Jaune was worried that the two of them would try to attack them again just like the last weirdos Jaune faced. Instead, Tager simply smiled and gave the two a salute.

"You two fought like true soldiers," said Tager. "Well done, young men."

"To have been defeated by men of such lower stature!" said Waldstein. "I must go off and train my body to make sure such a defeat never happens again!"

Waldstein walked off the nearly destroyed food court, angry with himself for having lost to two random nobodies that weren't even half his size.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" asked Jaune.

"I think it's best we leave him be," said Tager.

"But isn't he like your friend or something?" said Kanji.

"Not really. We just happened to stumble into each other when we were teleported from our worlds."

"He wasn't from the same world as yours?" asked Jaune. "How many worlds are in this tournament?"

"That I have yet to figure out. Now before I take my leave young man, there was something you said before that peaked my interest."

"About what?"

"You said you need all of the Keystones to get back home?"

"Yeah...that's what the voice told me!"

"Then it appears we've been given conflicting information. That voice setting up this tournament told me in order to go home, I needed to defeat anyone holding a stone. She never mentioned anything about 'needing' them, much less 'all' of them."

"Why do you think she'd say such a thing?"

"I don't know, but whatever the case may be, you'd better watch your back. That Keystone makes you a marked man."

As Tager walked off in a different direction than Waldstein, Jaune thought about what Tager said about the Keystones.

 _"Why would that voice tell Tager something different? I need the Keystones, but he doesn't? What's going on?"_

While Jaune was confused about the true purpose of the Keystones, he noticed Kanji looking worried and getting antsy.

"Is something wrong, Kanji?" asked Jaune.

"This tournament has people from all these different worlds involved?" asked Kanji.

"As far as I know, that's the basic gist of it."

"And if my world is one of them...does this mean my friends are involved in this as well?"

"That's a strong possibility."

Realizing his friends could be in danger, Kanji suddenly ran off.

"Kanji, wait!" said Jaune. "Where are you going?"

"I'd like to keep helping you Jaune," said Kanji, "but if my world is involved in this tournament, I have to make sure my own friends are safe! Take care of yourself, all right?"

"Same to you, Kanji!"

Jaune hated to see Kanji suddenly leave but couldn't blame him. Jaune soon left as well to find his friends, hoping they were having better luck than he was.


	3. What Friends Are For

**A/N: Apologies for the later than usual update. Haven't made time for writing RWBY stuff for personal reasons, but I figured to at least get something out so you know the story isn't dead. I will try to finish this fic eventually.**

* * *

 _Hanging Gardens - Kagutsuchi_

Jaune now found himself in a huge luxurious garden. The garden was full of large fountains and trees growing along the edges of the walking paths, which was glowing in a golden light reflecting off the sun. Jaune would have loved to just sit down and take in the beautiful scenery if it weren't for the fact he was still on edge from the previous encounters he's had to deal with.

 _"This place looks so calming and peaceful. Too bad this tournament is anything but! I wish Kanji hadn't run off; I could have really used his help some more. I wonder what pair of freaky fighters I'm going to come across next."_

Jaune looked around to figure out where he should go but could barely see what was up ahead from all the foliage growing everywhere. He could see a large building off in the distance, but didn't know exactly how to get there, or even if the garden had a path leading to the building. The gardens might as well be one giant maze he could easily get lost in.

 _"Where am I supposed to go now? I wish that announcer lady was more helpful! Now that I think about it...she seems to always butt in at the right time to announce these matches. I wonder if she's secretly watching me always. In fact...that gives me an idea!"_

"Hey, anonymous voice woman!" shouted Jaune towards the sky. "If you're listening, I've got a couple of questions I want to ask you!"

Jaune waited to get a response from the mysterious voice running the tournament but didn't hear anything. Either the voice wasn't paying attention or was intentionally ignoring him.

"HEY! I know you can hear me! You're like...everywhere! Answer me!"

Jaune waited another minute but only heard the wind blowing through the trees.

"Um...pretty please?"

After still not getting a response, Jaune gave up trying to contact the omnipresent voice.

 _"Of course, she would ignore me. She might not even tell me the truth anyway. She told me I needed all the Keystones, yet Tager said he just needed to fight anyone with a stone. Somebody is lying, and even if that guy looked like a demon from hell, I doubt he'd lie to me on purpose. I guess the only thing I can do now is keep trying to find my friends."_

"Pyrrha! Nora! Ren! Are any of you guys around here?"

Jaune was not alone in searching for his friends. On the opposite end of the Hanging Gardens was the squirrel demi-human, Makoto Nanaya. Dressed in her usual orange jacket and carrying her crucifix tonfas, she was hanging out with her friends when she suddenly felt her body being transported to another location. At first, she assumed it was some kind of strange Phenomenon Intervention, but then she heard a voice announcing a tournament over Keystones. Makoto went in search of her friends but hasn't seen anyone else since she arrived.

 _"Maybe they aren't here after all. Could I have been the only one transported to...wherever it is I've been transported to?"_

"Tsubaki! Noelers!" yelled Makoto. "Where are you guys?"

Makoto and Jaune kept walking around the Hanging Gardens, calling out to their friends. Eventually, the both wound up on the same stone path but didn't notice each other as they focused on their surroundings trying to figure out where to go. As they looked up at the trees and fountains along their path, the two bumped into each other's backs.

"GAH!" they both shouted. The two of them instantly turned around and drew out their weapons.

"Who are you? What do you want?" they both shouted in unison.

"Me? I'm just trying to find my friends!" replied both at the same time.

Both paused when they realized that the person standing across from them was coincidentally stuck in the same situation as themselves.

"Oh, really?" asked Makoto. "You lost your friends too, huh?"

"Yeah," said Jaune. "You wouldn't have happened to see them, did you?"

"Sorry. I haven't seen another face since I got here. I'm hoping my friends aren't in whatever weird world this is."

"Would your friends happen to be really tall dudes with crazy powers? Because I've met several of those already."

"No, that definitely doesn't describe my friends."

"Sorry I can't be of more help."

"No worries. I'm sure if my friends are here, they can more than hold their own."

Relieved to have bumped into someone who appeared friendly, Jaune put away his sword and shook Makoto's hand.

"Nice to meet you," said Jaune. "I'm Jaune Arc. Man, it feels nice to see a normal face for once!"

"Normal?" said Makoto. "That's usually not the first thing people say about my face."

"Trust me, after what I've seen, you're very normal in comparison."

"Really? You think I'm...normal?"

"Yeah...why wouldn't you be?"

"Oh, I don't know...this?" Makoto pointed to her squirrel ears and turned around to show off her giant fluffy tail. "And this? This looks 'normal' to you?"

"Well, yeah! I mean, the tail and ears just mean you're a Faunus, right?"

"Huh? What's a...Faunus?"

It took Jaune a few moments before he remembered that people not from his world wouldn't know the same terms and phrases he did.

"Oh, right!" said Jaune. "You're not from my world! Sorry for the confusion."

"It's okay," said Makoto. "I assume what you call 'Faunus' is what people in my world would call 'demi-human.' Either way, I appreciate you calling me normal! Name's Makoto Nanaya, by the way."

"So, Makoto, you're caught up in this tournament too?"

"Yep! Honestly, as worried as I am for my friends, I'm looking forward to having a good fight!"

"Yeah...after some of the people I've met, fighting is the last thing I want to do, especially if it means I lose my Keystone."

"Wait...you have a Keystone?"

Jaune could feel a chill run down his spine. He had been caught off guard by Makoto's kindness and blurted out the fact he had a Keystone.

 _"Oh no!"_ thought Jaune. _"Me and my big mouth!"_

Knowing there was no point in trying to lie his way out of this, Jaune had to come out with the truth.

"That's right...I have one of the Keystones."

Jaune reached into his pocket and showed his red Keystone to Makoto.

"So THAT'S what the Keystones look like!" said Makoto.

"Let me guess," said Jaune. "You need my Keystone as well?"

"Yeah! I need that stone to...to..."

Makoto tried to remember what the voice had told her about the Keystones, but Makoto had spaced out during most of the explanation when the voice kept droning on about rules and what not.

"Crap, what did that voice say about the Keystones?"

"That we need these to get home?" said Jaune.

"Hmmm...no, I don't think she mentioned anything about that."

 _"She wasn't told about needing the stones to get home either?"_ thought Jaune. _"If that's true, why am I the only one that was told otherwise?"_

"...aw well!" said Makoto, shrugging her shoulders as if this wasn't a big deal. "No sense in fighting if I can't remember what purpose they served. Besides, I'd rather focus on finding my friends first than some stone I've never seen before."

"Then how about we help each other? If we're lucky, we both might find our friends!"

"It's a deal!"

Jaune was relieved that he found another temporary ally to work with. Jaune and Makoto explored the Hanging Gardens together, hoping to find one of their friends, or at the very least, another friendly face who wasn't going to try and nab Jaune's Keystone.

After walking in what seemed like circles for several more minutes, the pair were getting convinced that wherever their friends were located, it wasn't in the garden area.

"It doesn't look like there's anyone else here," said Makoto.

"Darn," said Jaune. "It's killing me not knowing where they are right now."

"At least you know they're in this world. I'm sure you'll find them soon!"

"I hope so. They're probably more worried about me than I am of them."

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Well, the thing is...I'm not exactly the strongest member of our group."

"Is...that a problem?"

"Not to them, but...well, to keep a long story short, I'm supposed to be the team leader, yet I'm relying on them more than they're relying on me."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"It is when I shouldn't be!" yelled Jaune.

Realizing he was starting to lash out for no reason, Jaune took a seat on a nearby rock to calm himself down. Seeing Jaune getting stressed out over his leadership issues, Makoto decided to take a seat next to Jaune and help him out.

"Sounds like you've got some pent-up emotions to let out, Jaune," said Makoto. "What's wrong about being a leader who relies on their friends?"

"My friends think I'm a good leader," said Jaune, "but I feel like they're just saying that to not hurt my feelings. All of them know how to fight and understand their powers, meanwhile I'm playing catch-up to even be half as good!"

"You can't be THAT bad, Jaune! I mean, if you're the team leader, you have to be really good at SOMETHING, right?"

"But that's just it! Even I don't know what about me I know I'm better at than my team!" Jaune looked down on the ground and sighed. "The only thing I'm really doing is letting them down."

"If they really thought you were letting them down," said Makoto, "they wouldn't be your friends, Jaune."

"Are you just saying that-"

"I'm saying it because it's true!"

Makoto suddenly grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and forced him to turn around to look at her. Jaune was surprised to see Makoto's demeanor suddenly go from cheerful to deadly serious.

"If they thought you weren't worth having as a friend let alone leader, they wouldn't try reaching out to you! They wouldn't bother trying to help you if they thought you were worthless! So whatever doubts you have because of some gap in power, you need to get over it!"

Now Makoto was the one who was losing her cool. Makoto let go of Jaune and looked at the ground, feeling bad about having to yell at Jaune like that.

"I'm sorry if I sounded harsh," said Makoto.

"No...it's okay," said Jaune. "Sounds like you've been through this kind of thing yourself."

"More than you'd think." Makoto wrapped her tail around her waist and rested her head on top. "You said although I was a 'Faunus', you considered me normal. Does everyone in your world think that way about Faunus?"

"Honestly, no. There's a lot of people who hate Faunus just for being different. Is it like that where you're from?"

"Yeah. There's very few demi-humans like me in my world, so everyone I was ever surrounded by considered me a freak. I was constantly bullied by everyone around me growing up, so I hated humans; all of them. I wanted nothing to do with any of them. That was until I met Noel and Tsubaki at the school I was training in. I hated them just like I hated everyone else, until one day they stood up for me against some bullies. Even then I still wanted nothing to do with them and tried to push them away, but they never stopped trying to be nice to me. They were the first people I ever met who saw me as a person and not some animal freak."

Makoto started to tear up from reminiscing about how Noel and Tsubaki became her closest friends.

"Those two are the most important people in my life. I'd go to the ends of the world for them, and I'm sure your friends would do the same for you."

Hearing Makoto talk about how her friends kept trying to reach out to her reminded Jaune of all the times his friends kept insisting he was a good leader. Looking back at the time they spent training or going on missions, the rest of Team JNPR could have ratted Jaune out to Ozpin any time about how he cheated his way into Beacon, or at least demand he step down as leader or transfer to a different team, but instead his friends chose to stand by him through thick and thin. They were as committed to Jaune as Makoto was to her friends.

"Well isn't this such a sappy cryfest!" shouted an annoying voice nearby. Makoto and Jaune looked up and saw a creepy looking teenager standing before them. The features that instantly stood out about the boy was the blood-red eyes and the arms that looked to be covered in blood themselves, matching the color of his pants and long hair. It was obvious whoever this guy was, he was there to cause trouble.

"Wah wah wah!" said the creepy boy in a mocking tone. "I miss my friends! You idiots are starting to get on my nerves with all this crying!"

"Do you know this jerk?" asked Jaune.

"No one I've ever seen before!" said Makoto. Sensing a fight was about to go down, Makoto stood up and went into her fighting stance just in case this boy tried to sucker punch them. "Hey blood guy! Who are you supposed to be?"

"Call me Carmine!" replied the creep. "And I'm here to put you crybabies out of your misery!"

"If he's anything like the others I've encountered," said Jaune, "he's probably here to fight for my Keystone!"

"And I doubt he has any friends to look for!" said Makoto.

"First of all, friends are for weakass idiots!" said Carmine. "Second, like I care about whatever the hell a Keystone is? All I know is this tournament means there's shitheads running around for me to beat up! And right now, you two look like a pair of losers that can use a good ass kicking!"

"If it's a butt kicking you're looking for," said Makoto, "you found it!"

Makoto ripped off her jacket to reveal her battle attire, a pair of orange shorts and a top that both barely covered Makoto's body.

"A fair warning! I pack a seriously deadly punch! So, if you don't want to be bleeding more than you already seem to be, you'd best back off!"

Despite how serious Makoto sounded, Carmine simply laughed off Makoto's threats.

"Like I'm scared of fighting some oversized rodent?" replied Carmine. "I'll rip you apart just like all the other rats I practiced my powers on!"

Before Makoto can charge in and throw the first punch to finally shut Carmine up, Jaune grabbed her arm to get her attention.

"Hold it, Makoto!" said Jaune. "We don't need to fight him!"

"Why not?" asked Makoto.

"He can't fight us because he doesn't have a partner! That voice lady made it clear fights can only be two on two!"

 **"Wow! You actually remembered the rules, Jauney-boy!"**

"Was that the voice lady you were talking about?" asked Makoto.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "Hey voice lady, while you're here, can you tell me-"

 **"As Jauney-boy was saying, this tournament is strictly a tag battle affair, Carmine! You're going to need a partner if you want to beat people up!"**

"Miss voice lady?" asked Makoto. "Can you make an exception this time around? I don't mind fighting this jerk by myself!"

 **"Sorry Makoto, but if I bend the rules for you, I'd have to do it for everyone wanting to settle personal grudges, and then it wouldn't be a tag tournament! So, unless Carmine here grabs a partner, you'll just have to settle with verbal insults instead."**

 _"At least this means my Keystone isn't at risk!"_ thought Jaune, relieved he was going to sneak off without having to fight.

Rather than get pissed off that some random voice was denying him his chance to rip apart the two crybabies, Carmine laughed maniacally, as if unphased by the sudden announcement.

"What's so funny?" asked Makoto.

"So, fights have to be two on two, huh?" said Carmine. "Guess what! I happen to have found a partner for this stupid tag battle!"

"And who in their right mind would want to team up with a sociopath like you?" asked Jaune.

"Hey!" yelled Carmine. "Stupid robot bitch! Get your ass over here!"

Jaune and Makoto looked up at the sky to see somebody coming down. Whatever was coming down appeared to be a girl in a blue bodysuit with armored limbs, and a visor to cover what her eyes really looked like. She also had what appeared to be several swords floating behind her. Jaune turned to Makoto and noticed the sudden look of fear on her face, as if she knew who Carmine's partner really was.

"Oh no!" said Makoto. "This isn't good!"

"Huh?" said Jaune. "You know what that thing is?"

"It's a Murakumo Unit! Long story short, they're very powerful and very dangerous, ESPECIALLY that one!"

 _"Just my luck!"_ thought Jaune. _"If I'm not fighting super huge monsters, I'm fighting killer robots instead!"_

"Have you called for Nu's help?" asked Nu, the name of the unit somehow allied with Carmine.

"This stupid tournament bitch says I can't fight without a tag team partner," said Carmine, "so I need you to act as my partner for now!"

"Hey blood guy!" said Makoto. "How did you get your hands on that unit?"

"I found this robot lying in a ditch, and all it wanted to talk about was some asshole named Ragna! I don't know who the hell that is, but this bucket of bolts agreed to follow me if I find this Ragna idiot for her."

"Will defeating these two help us find Ragna?" asked Nu.

"Let me make it clear, tin can! I don't need help kicking their asses, so just stay back and shut the hell up!"

 **"Well...as weird as these teams are, looks like we've got ourselves a tag match after all! On one end we have the adorable pairing of Jaune and Makoto, and the other we have the oddball pairing of Carmine and Nu!"**

"Darn it!" said Jaune. "Hey, Makoto...is that robot REALLY that dangerous?"

"Very!" replied Makoto. "If she winds up joining the fight, you just leave her to me, okay?"

"You won't have to worry about her, crybabies!" said Carmine. "Because I'll kill you both by myself!"

 **"Enough talking! Let's get this battle started!"**

Makoto got into her battle stance, while Carmine simple stood still as if waiting for Makoto to make the first move.

 **"Annnnd...FIGHT!"**

As soon as the announcer gave the word, Makoto immediately charged for Carmine and threw a fast punch to Carmine's gut; Carmine suddenly formed a crystal barrier that looked like it was made of his blood to block Makoto's punch, then formed a spear to lunge at Makoto. Makoto knocked the spear away as Carmine swung his arm outward and created an arc out of his blood to slash Makoto; Makoto quickly stepped back to avoid getting hit.

 _"So his ability is to use his own blood as a weapon,"_ thought Makoto. _"I wonder if this means hitting him too hard makes him stronger? Only one way to find out!"_

 _"He actually uses his blood to fight?"_ thought Jaune, feeling nauseous at the sight of Carmine using his blood in such weird ways. _"I think I'm going to be sick!"_

While Jaune was trying not to throw up, Makoto was trying to land some punches in, but Carmine's use of his blood to create sharp crystal arcs kept Makoto at bay. Carmine jumped up and used his blood to create several crystalized spears to lunge down on Makoto. Using her enhanced speed, Makoto weaved left and right to avoid the spears coming down on her; the crystals soon dissolved into puddles. Unable to reach Carmine, Makoto focused her inner strength and created a ball of pure energy in front of her, a technique she dubbed the Comet Cannon.

"Think fast, blood guy!" said Makoto, punching her ball of energy and sending it hurling towards Carmine. Carmine tried to form a shield with his blood but was a second too late as the cannon collided into him and threw him off.

 _"Now's my chance!"_ thought Makoto, running straight towards Carmine. Makoto powered up with her special Drive "Impact" to land a devastating punch on Carmine, when suddenly a giant stalagmite popped up underneath her and caused her to trip over and land on her face.

"You're mine now!" said Carmine. Carmine used his blood to make a giant shuriken and launched it at Makoto. Makoto got up to block when she was suddenly attacked from behind by what appeared to be a red wave slashing across her ankles, causing her to lose focus and get slashed by Carmine's spinning blades. Before Makoto can get a grip on what was happening, Carmine was able to grab Makoto by the throat and absorbed some of Makoto's health away before throwing her back to the ground. Carmine created another spear to throw at Makoto; Makoto rolled out of the way as the spear hit the ground and created another dissolved puddle.

 _"What's with all those puddles on the ground?"_ thought Jaune. _"Is that also his blood?"_

As Makoto tried to approach Carmine, Carmine shot up several crystal stalagmites out from the ground to strike Makoto and keep her away from striking distance. Jaune saw the crystals pop out from the puddles, then dissolve back into puddles themselves.

"Makoto, watch out for those puddles!" yelled Jaune.

"The puddles?" said Makoto. Makoto looked down and realized she was nearly surrounded by the puddles created by Carmine. Carmine quickly conjured his blood crystals to rise and strike Makoto; Makoto jumped up to avoid getting struck. "Thanks, Jaune! Can't believe I was overlooking that! I'm onto you now, blood guy!"

"Big deal!" said Carmine. "You're still not going to land a punch on me, dumbass!"

"We'll see about that!" replied Makoto, running straight for Carmine and stepping over all the puddles.

"You idiot!" said Carmine, creating his giant shuriken and launching it at Makoto, while another red wave was attacking her from below. Just as they were about to hit Makoto, Makoto suddenly split herself into three clones. The one running towards Carmine vanished into a puff of smoke when struck with the red wave, while the one jumping towards him vanished as soon as Carmine's shuriken hit her.

"What the? Where did-"

"Lightning Arrow!" shouted Makoto, striking Carmine from above with a powerful right hand straight into his forehead. With Carmine in a daze, Makoto quickly threw several lightning fast jabs with her left, then ducked down and struck Carmine with a flurry of punches before finishing it off with a powerful uppercut. While Carmine struggled to get back to his feet, Makoto was feeling good about her chances of winning.

"Ready to surrender now, blood guy? Or do you need a few more punches before you learn your lesson?"

"I dare you to say that up close, asshole!" replied Carmine.

"If you insist!" said Makoto, running straight to Carmine. Before Makoto could land another punch, Carmine suddenly conjured up a giant blood crystal and trapped Makoto inside it.

"HA HA HAAA! Not so tough while trapped like a rat!"

Even with her enhanced strength, Makoto could barely move a muscle, leaving her wide open for an attack. Carmine gathered as much blood as he could to create the biggest shuriken he can. With Makoto trapped, Jaune needed to step in and assist.

"Hang on, Makoto!" yelled Jaune, holding up his shield and ramming into Makoto. Jaunt hit the crystalized prison so hard he wound up falling on his back but was able to make some large cracks into Carmine's blood crystal.

"Stay out of this, bitch!" yelled Carmine, launching his attack on Jaune instead. Still a bit dazed from helping Makoto, Jaune took the full brunt of Carmine's attack, the spinning blades slashing him across his armored chest, which did little to protect him from taking serious damage. With Makoto still trapped in the blood crystal, Carmine grabbed Jaune by the throat and lifted him up.

"You owe me some blood!" said Carmine, gripping tightly around Jaune's neck. Before he can start draining Jaune's health, the prison holding Makoto back fell apart, freeing Makoto. Carmine immediately dropped Jaune and turned his attention back to Makoto.

"I think you need a Sirius Jolt!" said Makoto, focusing all her power into her right arm to nail Carmine. Carmine laughed off Makoto's threat and created a shield to block the incoming blow, only for Makoto's punch to break through his shield like it was nothing and strike Carmine in the gut, sending him flying all the way across the other end of the garden and crashing into a nearby tree, nearly taking the tree with him.

Having a moment to catch their breath, Makoto helped Jaune back to his feet to make sure he was all right.

"Thanks for taking that blow for me!" said Makoto.

"I know you wanted him to yourself," said Jaune, "but this is a tag battle after all."

"No problem! It's nice having someone watch your back!"

Enraged that he was being bested by the rodent and the wimp, Carmine's face was almost turning as red as the blood covering his arms. Seeing Carmine being outmatched, Nu decided it was time for her to engage in combat.

"God dammit!" yelled Carmine. "I don't care how much blood I have to use! I'm not going to lose to a couple of whiny assholes!"

"Are you in need of Nu's assistance?" asked Nu.

"I told you no, God dammit! Just stand there and shut up!"

"I have calculated your odds of survival at a low rate. Nu insists that she assist you."

"UUUGH, fine! Freaking do something then, you annoying bitch!"

Nu stepped forward and created what appeared to be some kind of magic summoning circle.

"Commencing annihilation of the target. Launching attack in 3...2...1..."

Seeing Nu about to attack from the corner of her eye, Makoto pushed Jaune out of the way just as a barrage of black swords suddenly shot out like bullets from Nu's summoning circle, dealing some serious damage to Makoto and nearly sent her flying out of the Hanging Gardens.

"Makoto! Are you all right?" asked Jaune.

"I'm okay!" said Makoto, trying to get up until she felt her back spasm. "Well...mostly okay!"

"What the hell?" said Carmine. "Why didn't you tell me you can do that?"

"Did Nu do a good job assisting you?" asked Nu.

"Uh...yeah! Yeah, you did!"

"If Nu does good, will you take Nu to Ragna?"

Carmine chuckled. It seemed this dumb robot could be put to good use, and all Carmine had to do was pretend like he cared about some random asshole he planned to kill later.

"Yes!" said Carmine. "I'll take you to Ragna! Now are you gonna help me tear these idiots apart or what?"

"Confirmed. Entering combat phase."

Nu had her sights locked on to Makoto, until Jaune suddenly stood in front of Makoto. With Makoto needing some time to recover, Jaune held up his shield and took Makoto's place in the fight.

"Jaune, wait!" said Makoto. "Not to call you weak or anything, but she's too powerful for you!"

"I know," said Jaune, "but you need time to rest! I'll try to fend her off as much as I can!"

"Another obstruction," said Nu. "You will be annihilated like everyone else who get in my way of finding Ragna."

"Wait a second!" said Jaune. "If it's someone you're looking for, we can help!"

Nu ignored Jaune and instead created her black swords to throw at Jaune from nearly every direction. The swords were coming out so fast that Jaune didn't have time to block them all, and instead had to take the hit hoping his armor would protect him instead.

"There's no need to fight each other! We can help search for your friend instead! I mean, aren't we all just trying to-"

Nu dashed towards Jaune and attacked him up close with the blades floating behind her. Jaune held up his shield, but still got pushed back from Nu lunging all of her swords at Jaune in quick succession.

"Hear me out, please! We want to be your friends!"

"Negative," said Nu. "Nu's only friend is Ragna. Anyone in Nu's way of finding Ragna must be destroyed."

"We're not trying to get in your way! We just want to-"

Nu flipped herself backwards, swinging all her swords upward at Jaune, nearly causing Jaune to fall back.

"If finding this Ragna guy is so important to you, I can-"

Nu summoned a wave of swords to appear from the ground; Jaune jumped out of the way to avoid getting slashed from below.

"I'll help you-"

Another wave of swords came after Jaune, causing him to frantically jump from side to side.

"Are you even listening to me?!"

Nu appeared to have paused her attacks to listen to Jaune, only for Jaune to get attacked from behind by a rounded blade Nu summoned on the ground, tripping Jaune over.

 _"So much for trying to reason things out!"_ thought Jaune. _"How am I going to get out of this fight alive?"_

It was bad enough when Jaune fought someone with just one sword; Nu was fighting with what seemed like an infinite amount thanks to her Drive to summon new ones anywhere she pleased. The fight was clearly one-sided as Nu was going on the offensive, while all Jaune could do was hide behind his shield and dodge as many of Nu's blades as possible, stalling until Makoto was healed enough to get back into the fight. As outmatched as Jaune was, Makoto noticed how Jaune was lasting a lot longer against Nu than she expected.

 _"Either Jaune's shield is super tough,"_ thought Makoto, _"or Jaune is able to take a lot more hits than the average fighter. Maybe I can use that to our advantage!"_

"Makoto!" yelled Jaune while amid dodging Nu's attacks. "Any idea on what we should do?"

"If I can get in closer to her," said Makoto, "I could land a powerful punch! But I'm going to need your help!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Keep holding up your shield and cover me!" Makoto got behind Jaune and wrapped her tail around Jaune's waist.

"Um, Makoto?" asked Jaune. "Why is your tail-?"

Makoto grabbed Jaune's back and pushed him forward, using him as a shield to block the incoming blades of Nu. Jaune tried to protest but was too busy fending off Nu's swords to say anything.

"Main target approaching," said Nu. "Commencing analysis of next attack."

Knowing Makoto was bound to jump out and attack her, Nu kept her focus on Makoto, waiting for the precise moment to launch her blade at Makoto. As soon as Makoto was within range, Makoto let go of Jaune and jumped up to attack Nu.

"Target acquired!" said Nu, launching her sword at Makoto, only to find out the Makoto that jumped up was an illusion. The real Makoto stood behind Jaune, focusing all the power she had into launching her next attack.

"I've got you now!" said Makoto. "BIG BANG SMASH!"

Makoto unleashed a giant fist made from her aura, sending Nu flying to the edge of the garden. While the attack wasn't anything Nu couldn't recover from, Carmine was pissed off that Nu failed to kill either of these pests.

"You worthless piece of shit!" yelled Carmine. "You couldn't even take down this whiny-ass wimp? Guess I'll just have to kill you myself!"

"Not so fast, blood guy!" said Makoto. "I've still got a score to settle with you!"

Carmine knew he was outmatched by Makoto, but could likely take on Jaune without a problem, so he decided to have the dumb robot focus on Makoto.

"Hey robot!" said Carmine. "Make yourself useful and get rid of this rodent!"

"Adjusting protocols," said Nu, getting right back up and chasing after Makoto. With Makoto distracting Nu, Jaune was left to fight Carmine by himself.

"It's just you and me now, wimp!"

"Mind if I ask why you're such a jerk?" said Jaune. "Even to your own teammate?"

"What? Expecting some sob story about my childhood? How my love of violence is because of the violence I suffered myself?"

"Well...is that true?"

"...Hell no, you idiot!" replied Carmine. "I'm an asshole because I just feel like it, just like I feel like beating your whiny bitch ass!"

Carmine created his spinning blade and launched it at Jaune, who held up his shield to block the attack. As Carmine used his blood to create more spikes to throw at Jaune, Jaune was starting to wonder if Carmine was able to create anything anywhere like Nu could.

 _"Just how much blood does this guy have?"_ thought Jaune. _"He couldn't possibly have unlimited blood, could he? I mean eventually he has to...wait a second...that's it! That's how I can beat him!"_

"Have you pissed your pants yet, wimp?" asked Carmine.

"You don't scare me, Carmine," said Jaune. "You may look creepy with all that blood on your arms and all those weapons you can create, but all you are is a scared little bully!"

"Scared little bully? AAAAH HA HA HA HA! That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard! I'm not scared of shit, you little weak bitch!"

Carmine threw several blood spikes at Jaune that quickly dissolved into puddles, then had his blood crystals pop out of the ground to attack Jaune. Jaune kept jumping around to avoid getting slashed.

"You might be a better fighter," said Jaune, "but I'm going to win because I have friendship on my side!"

"Oh don't give me that friendship crap!" said Carmine. "Friends don't make you strong, dumbass! Strength makes you strong! That's all there is to it!"

"Coming from the guy who didn't want to fight Makoto? You're just fighting me because you can't fight people your own size or strength!"

"You talk a lot of shit for a guy who hides likes a coward! Come at me, asshole!"

The more Jaune antagonized Carmine, the more aggressive Carmine attacked, constantly throwing everything he could at Jaune, who continued to just defend himself as if too scared to fight back. What Jaune actually had in mind was a strategy to wear down Carmine.

He remembered a training session he had with Pyrrha shortly after the Forever Fall incident with Team CRDL, when Pyrrha was trying to explain to him how exactly aura worked.

 _"I still don't think I quite understand how aura works," said Jaune._

 _"Think of aura like your blood," said Pyrrha. "What would happen if you lost too much blood?"_

 _"I'd get sick, dizzy, weak, and probably die."_

 _"Precisely! If you lose blood, you lose strength. Blood is a lot like aura; when it winds up getting too low, you're too weak to do anything. So always keep your aura in check!"_

"So you're just going to cower away like a bitch?" said Carmine. "Fine! I'll get up close myself!"

Sick of Jaune just standing around, Carmine charged at Jaune and did a spinning heel kick to Jaune's face; Jaune held up his shield to block but got pushed back into a dissolved puddle, allowing Carmine to summon a crystal and causing Jaune to lose his balance, leaving him wide open for an attack. Carmine created a giant whirlwind of blood to slash at Jaune, dealing some serious damage.

"Time for your weak ass to get devoured!" With Jaune prone on the ground, Carmine shot several small projectiles of blood at Jaune. Jaune used his shield to block the blood, but Carmine's blood landed all over Jaune. Using his EXS powers, Carmine commanded his spilled blood to explode, dealing even more damage to Jaune. It seemed not even blocking Carmine's blood was enough to stop him.

"Now to put you out of your misery!" Carmine laughed as he was creating another spinning blade with his blood, only to suddenly feel woozy and lose some feeling in his legs, causing him to fall to one knee. "Huh? What the hell's going on? I can barely stand up!"

Despite the pain he was in, Jaune smiled. His constant defending finally paid off.

"Sounds like you used up too much of your own blood," said Jaune, standing back up. "You were so busy trying to kick my butt, you didn't keep track of your own health."

"I'm still stronger than you, bitch!" said Carmine, trying to get right back up but felt dizzy and couldn't stand still. He desperately needed blood or else he was going to faint.

"How does it feel knowing you were just outsmarted?" asked Jaune.

"You think you've outsmarted me, asshole?!" yelled Carmine. "I'll just take your blood instead!"

Without any amount of blood to make a weapon, Carmine simply stumbled towards Jaune. Jaune pushed Carmine back with his shield, then slashed him several times with his sword. With not enough blood to use his EXS ability, Carmine wasn't able to defend himself and collapsed, feeling like his head was spinning.

 **"Carmine looks like he doesn't know where he is! I'm going to have judge him unable to continue!"**

"I did it!" said Jaune. "I actually beat someone!"

During her fight with Nu, Makoto overheard the lady announce Jaune as the winner and cheered for Jaune's victory.

"AW YEAH!" cheered Makoto. "Way to go, Jaune! You are the man!"

Hearing her partner had been knocked out, Nu turned her attention to Jaune.

"My partner has been defeated," said Nu. "Nu will have to win this fight on her own. Initiating final combat phase."

"Oh no you don't!" said Makoto.

Makoto tried to attack Nu from behind, but Nu quickly dodged Makoto's attack and countered by swinging all her swords at Makoto, sending her flying into a nearby fountain. Makoto bonked her head against the fountain, rendering her temporarily knocked out and unable to help Jaune any time soon. Jaune could feel his heart beating at triple speed; Carmine may have had a weakness to exploit, but Nu seemed to have none, making his situation seem hopeless. Jaune took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

 _"Keep your cool, Jaune!"_ thought Jaune. _"Maybe she isn't that bad! I mean, if Carmine was able to be taken down, maybe I can find a way to-"_

In the blink of an eye, Nu suddenly appeared in front of Jaune and held him up with one arm, then slashed Jaune with the swords floating around her. Before Jaune could even land back on the ground, Nu summoned her black swords to attack Jaune from every direction, who floundered in mid-air as each sword cut more of his aura away.

 _"I was wrong!"_ thought Jaune while in immense pain. _"She's way stronger and smarter than him!"_

Jaune felt like he had been in mid-air forever before he was finally able to land back on the ground. Before Jaune could think about what he could possibly do to defeat Nu, Nu then opened her summoning circle and unleashed her barrage of black swords on Jaune, taking out whatever aura Jaune had left to protect himself.

 **"Yikes! And just when I thought you were on a roll, Jauney-boy! I'm afraid there's no way you can keep fighting with your aura that low!"**

Just like in his last fight, Jaune found himself laying on the ground and staring at the sky, his body in immense pain from the beating he took. Makoto regained consciousness and ran over to check on Jaune to make sure he wasn't dead considering how powerful Nu can be.

"Talk to me, Jaune!" said Makoto.

"You weren't kidding about how strong she was," said Jaune, his body in so much pain it even hurt to talk.

"Sorry about letting you get hurt. But don't worry! I promise I'm going to get us out of here alive!"

Makoto carried Jaune to a nearby tree, so he can rest while she fought Nu. As Makoto turned to face Nu, Jaune suddenly grabbed her ankle.

"No!" said Jaune. "I'm not going to lay back and force you to do all the work!"

"But you can't fight!" said Makoto. "You heard what that voice lady said! You can barely stand up!"

"I'll get better!"

"Jaune, I appreciate you trying to help, but you just can't! I can handle this!"

As Makoto removed Jaune's hand from her ankle, she noticed Jaune starting to sound like he was about to cry. Once again, Jaune was down and needed help; the leader of Team JNPR was needing to be rescued because everyone else was leagues above him.

"Is this all I'm good for?" asked Jaune. "To be saved by everyone else?"

Makoto didn't want to waste time trying to take out Nu, but she couldn't stand Jaune this depressed over feeling useless. Makoto bent down and used her tail to wipe the tears out of Jaune's eyes.

"Listen to me, Jaune," said Makoto. "Having to rely on other people doesn't make you weak and useless. Sometimes you need to know your limits, otherwise you're just going to put yourself in harm's way, and how useful will you be then? You did everything you could; now I need you to trust me that I can win this, okay?"

"...promise me you're going to beat this crazy robot?" asked Jaune.

"I promise!"

Meanwhile, Carmine was already pissed off that he got taken out of the fight and was getting even more pissed that while Makoto and Jaune were having some whiny pep talk, Nu was simply standing aside and doing nothing.

"What are you waiting for, dumbass?" yelled Carmine. "Kill them while they're busy talking!"

"Nu is taking this time to recover at 100% functionality," replied Nu.

"Oh to hell with this! I'm not waiting for that shit!" Carmine stood up and tried to conjure his shuriken, only to lose the feeling in his legs again and fall. "God dammit!"

"You have not yet recovered enough health to be of any use," replied Nu. "Nu will win on her own and continue her search for Ragna."

"Screw you and screw Ragna!"

"Screw...Ragna?" asked Nu, confused by Carmine's odd choice of words. "Nu does not understand."

Overhearing Carmine complaining to Nu, Jaune noticed Nu had gotten herself distracted.

"Makoto, look!" said Jaune. "She's distracted!"

Seeing a golden opportunity, Makoto immediately ran towards Nu to get a sneak attack in.

"Behind you!" yelled Carmine.

"Behind me?" said Nu. "Is Ragna here?"

Nu turned around to what she thought would be Ragna, only to be greeted by Makoto about to land her Cosmic Ray punch on Nu. Quickly calculating a counter attack, Nu suddenly sidestepped Makoto causing her to miss, then ducked down and swept her swords at Makoto's legs, seriously damaging Makoto's legs and causing her to fall. Nu picked up Makoto by her throat and held her up; Makoto tried to get Nu's hand off her neck, but Nu's mechanical grip was iron-tight. Unable to punch Nu while trying to loosen Nu's choke on her, Makoto balled up the end of her tail and used that to punch Nu in the face, catching Nu off guard and causing Nu to let go.

"And now for my super-duper awesome amazing finishing maneuver!" said Makoto, winding her arm up multiple times and then going for a strong gut punch on Nu. Nu used her physical swords to block Makoto's punch, stopping any momentum Makoto was trying to build; before Makoto can think of a plan B, Nu created a summoning circle above Makoto and brought down her giant Calamity Sword, pummeling Makoto to the ground. Makoto was laid out flat, appearing to not be moving.

"Target neutralized," said Nu.

"C'mon Makoto, get up!" shouted Jaune, but Makoto was unresponsive.

 **"I don't think she's getting up after that one! Sorry Jauney-boy, but it looks you're about to lose your Keystone!"**

Hearing the mysterious voice announce his loss caused Jaune's heart to sink to his stomach. Without his Keystone, his chances of getting his team home had gone out the window.

 _"This can't be happening!"_ thought Jaune. _"This has to be a dream! This can't really be happening!"_

"AAH HA HA HA!" laughed Carmine. "I knew these little shits weren't a match for us! Now hurry up and kill them you stupid robot!"

"Proceeding to the elimination of the next target," said Nu, heading towards Jaune.

"NOT...SO...FAST!" shouted Makoto. "I'm...not done yet!"

Nu turned around to see Makoto slowly struggling to get back to her feet. Nu analyzed Makoto's life gauge and noticed it was recovering much quicker than expected.

"Target is regaining strength at a rapid pace," said Nu. "Inconsistent with previous analysis."

 **"Well now, it seems I was wrong! This firecracker still has a little spark left in her!"**

"You darn right I do!" said Makoto. "I can never give up! I've got to fight for my friends, and for Jaune, and for Jaune's friends!"

"Continuing annihilation of the previous target," said Nu, wasting no time firing off her black swords at Makoto. Despite the groggy state Makoto was in, she was somehow able to easily dodge Nu's blades, almost as if her body was moving on its own. Even Makoto was somewhat surprised by her newfound strength.

 _"I know I'm within an inch of my life right now,"_ thought Makoto, _"but for some reason, my soul feels more pumped than ever! I've never felt a sensation this strong before!"_

 _"Man, Makoto is really holding her own!"_ thought Jaune. _"It's almost like when Kanji was strong enough to take out those other guys! How is it that both times my partners can fight singlehandedly while I'm sitting on the sidelines? Is it some kind of coincidence?"_

"Nu has wasted enough time," said Nu. "Be extinguished."

Nu created her summoning circle and fired her barrage of black swords at Makoto, assuming it would be enough to finally put Makoto down. Makoto held up her arms and blocked the incoming blades as she kept moving towards Nu. No matter how much of her health was chipped away, Makoto willed herself to keep going until eventually she reached Nu.

"Let's try this one more time!" said Makoto, winding up and landing a strong gut punch to Nu, followed up by a barrage of fists going so fast that even Nu could hardly keep track of their speed as she was being pulverized. Finally, Makoto landed another gut punch to send Nu flying up, then tapping into her inner strength, jumped up even higher than Nu to deliver the final blow.

"Behold my signature move: PARTICLE FLARE!"

Makoto punched Nu square in the face with the most powerful energy fist she can muster, sending Nu crashing into the ground. Makoto could soon feel her body feel completely drained as she was falling back down, using her giant tail to cushion her fall. Everyone was waiting with bated breath to see if Nu was going to keep fighting.

"System unstable for continuing combat," replied Nu. "Activating recovery mode."

 **"I'm going to take that as a forfeit! Congratulations, Makoto and Jaune! You are the winners of this match!"**

"YEAH!" said Makoto. "I'm da bomb!"

Jaune let out a heavy sigh of relief knowing his Keystone would remain in his possession, at least for a little while longer. Makoto walked over to Jaune and lifted him back to his feet.

"What'd I tell ya, huh?" said Makoto. "Makoto Nanaya never breaks a promise!"

"I didn't realize you were that strong!" said Jaune. "How did you get that good?"

"Honestly? Even I'm a bit confused! I'm strong, but for some reason I just felt this surge of energy coursing through me that made me feel stronger than ever!"

 _"Then there is something to this!"_ thought Jaune. _"But just what's causing it to happen? It couldn't be me, could it?"_

"But as awesome as I was, I couldn't have done it without you, partner!"

While Makoto and Jaune were happy to pull out a victory, Carmine's blood was boiling from having to lose to a couple of wimps. Having spent enough time gaining his strength back, Carmine formed his spinning blade and quietly approached the duo to take them by surprise. As Jaune and Makoto were discussing where to go now, Jaune looked over and saw Carmine about to throw his blade at them.

"Look out!" said Jaune, pushing Makoto out of the way as Carmine's blade slashed the back of Jaune's thigh, causing him to collapse.

"Are you okay?" asked Makoto.

"My leg...it really hurts!" winced Jaune. Makoto looked down at Jaune's legs and noticed his jeans getting stained with blood from within, infuriating Makoto.

"This fight was already over!" yelled Makoto. "Just what the heck is wrong with you?"

"You think I give a shit about the rules?" said Carmine. "I'm here for bloodshed, you stupid freak!"

"You want bloodshed? You've got it!"

Makoto immediately charged for Carmine, only to suddenly get blasted back by a black sword fired by Nu. Despite losing their fight, Carmine and Nu were far from done trying to take down Makoto and Jaune. With Jaune seriously wounded and Makoto already exhausted, it didn't seem likely the two of them were going to make it out alive.

"Target has been subdued," said Nu.

"So hurry up and kill her already!" said Carmine.

"Then will you help Nu find Ragna?"

"Oh my God! Will you shut the hell up about Ragna for five freaking seconds? I don't give a SHIT about Ragna!"

"Huh? What do you mean...'don't give a shit?'" Having little patience as is, Carmine was getting sick of pretending he cared about Nu's problems.

"Are you that stupid?" said Carmine. "It means I don't care about you or whoever this Ragna asshole is!"

Nu didn't fully understand what Carmine was trying to say, but the way it was sounding, Carmine seemed to hate Ragna. Nu decided to ask Carmine a question to clarify his stance.

"Are you an enemy of Ragna?" asked Nu.

"I'm everybody's enemy, you dumb piece of shit!" yelled Carmine. "I'll tear anyone I find apart, even your precious Ragna!"

Hearing Carmine blatantly admit he was going to harm Ragna caused a chill to run down Makoto's spine.

"Ooooooh boy," said Makoto.

"What now?" asked Jaune.

"He has no idea what he just did."

"So are you gonna kill them or do I-" Before Carmine could finish, Nu suddenly tried to slash Carmine with her swords. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Ragna's enemies...are MY enemies!" yelled Nu, suddenly shifting her tone from stoic to maniacal. "I will destroy anyone who dare to threaten my Ragna!"

"So you want to fight me instead?" said Carmine. "Fine with me! I've always wanted to break a machine apart!"

"This is our cue to leave!" said Makoto, picking up Jaune and running away before they got caught up in Carmine and Nu's fight.

#

Makoto and Jaune ran into the cathedral at the end of the Hanging Gardens while they can hear Carmine and Nu battle each other outside. The two sat down on a staircase to catch their breath.

"I don't know who this Ragna guy is," said Jaune, "but I might have to thank him for this!"

"You probably shouldn't," said Makoto, knowing Ragna a bit too well from all the stories she heard about him. "Anyway, let me get a better look at your wound!"

Jaune pulled up his pants leg where Carmine had struck him. Makoto was checking her jacket to see if she had anything to use to patch the wound, only to be shocked by what she saw, or rather didn't see.

"Huh?" said Makoto. "How did..."

"Is something wrong?" asked Jaune.

"Your wound...it's already healed!"

Jaune looked down and saw the bleeding had not only stopped, but his leg seemed fully healed with no traces of Carmine's slash.

"It must have been my aura," said Jaune. "Sometimes it just kicks in and heals me right away. I have no idea why, though."

"Maybe that's your Drive kicking in!" said Makoto.

"My what?"

"A Drive! Your unique ability connected to your soul?"

"Unique to my...oh, you mean like a Semblance!"

"Semblance? What's a..." It took Makoto a few seconds to remember that Jaune was from a different world. "Oh, whoops! Now I'm the one using terms you wouldn't know about!"

The two of them laughed. It felt amazing to just laugh and let out all the tension from the struggle they just went through.

"Hey, Makoto?" said Jaune.

"Yeah, Jaune?"

"I want to say thanks for your help earlier."

"No worries! Aside from that blood jerk's cheap shot, it was a great fight!"

"Not just that. I meant about relying on my friends. I'm not going to beat myself up over needing their help."

With his wound already fully healed, Jaune stood up and made his way to the exit of the cathedral.

"Wait a second!" said Makoto. "Don't you think you should rest for a bit before heading off?"

"I can't waste any time searching for my friends," said Jaune, "especially if there's crazy people like those last two out there. I'm sure you want to run off to find yours as well."

"Yeah, but are you going to be okay on your own?"

"I'll be okay. I'm sure I'll bump into them soon!"

"If you say so. Until we meet again, Jaune!"

Makoto and Jaune said their final goodbyes and went their separate ways.

 _"Nice to know there's some friendly faces in this world,"_ thought Jaune. _"I hope whoever I encounter next is just as helpful."_


	4. One Way Home

_Sleeping Fountain Plaza - Kanzakai_

After walking what seemed like forever from the cathedral, Jaune now found himself in what appeared to be a shopping plaza, with a giant water fountain placed at the center of the buildings surrounding it. Above the fountains were wireframes illuminating patterns like constellations from space. It was quite a beautiful sight to behold, but the beauty of the fountain couldn't put Jaune at ease, knowing he still needed to find out what happened to the rest of his team.

 _"Still having no luck finding the others,"_ thought Jaune. _"And again, I've wandered into some weird place I haven't seen before. I wonder if Kanji and Makoto are doing any better."_

Jaune decided to sit at the edge of the fountain to go over everything that happened so far. His team were brought into a weird dimension that also involved people from other worlds. Some of them were hostile and had attempted to cost Jaune's chances of going home, while a couple of others appeared to be in the same situation Jaune was in.

 _"Now that I think about it, there seems to be a lot of people who were dragged into this and have to search for people close to them. Were they also given Keystones like me? Did the voice tell them they can't go home unless they get the Keystones too? But then there are others who just want to fight for the keystone and don't care about anyone else! Just what the heck is the point of this tournament anyway?"_

What got Jaune frustrated more than being away from his team was not having a single clue as to what was really going on. All he was told by whatever voice was announcing all these fights was he needed to keep his Keystone and reach the goal to go home. But why did he need the Keystone and not those big guys he fought earlier? What was the Keystone supposed to even do to get him home? And just where or what exactly was this "goal" he was supposed to reach?

 _"If this Keystone wasn't likely so important, I would chuck it into this fountain and be done with it! Maybe I should throw it and wish for someone to explain what's going on!"_

Jaune took out his Keystone and stood up, very tempted to throw his crystal into the water just to see what would happen. He turned around to get a look at the giant fountain when he suddenly noticed someone pacing around the opposite end of the fountain. He couldn't quite tell who it was, but they appeared to be a boy around his age half-blonde/half-black hair.

 _"Huh? Looks like there's someone standing at the other end. What could he be up to?"_

Jaune quickly pocketed his Keystone as to not attract attention to himself and silently got closer, making sure he stayed out of sight. The boy had his arms folded and looked like he was anxiously waiting for somebody to show up.

The kid pacing back and forth in front of the fountain was a high school student named Hyde Kido. He had been out on patrol during the Hollow Night happening in his hometown when suddenly he and his partner Linne were somehow teleported into an entirely different world and were told they were competing in a tournament over Keystones. Without any clear information as to what was going on, Hyde and Linne simply fought whatever strangers they came across just like they did during the Hollow Night, hoping to find answers along the way. A couple of minutes passed before Linne finally showed up again; Jaune was surprised to see a little girl fighting in this tournament.

 _"Is that who he was waiting for?"_ thought Jaune. _"That girl looks like she's ten! How did someone as young as her get involved in this?"_

"Any luck finding the other Keystones?" asked Hyde.

"None," replied Linne. "No one I've come across had a Keystone on them."

"Fantastic. At this rate, we're going to be stuck here forever."

"Only if you keep whining instead of actually searching."

Hyde sighed and went to sit by the fountain; Jaune quickly moved back to make sure he wasn't suddenly spotted.

"I'm starting to think that voice is lying about there being other Keystones," said Hyde. "Hell, why are we doing this in the first place?"

"I haven't figured it out yet myself," says Linne, "but until then, all we can do is keep fighting."

 _"He mentioned other Keystones!"_ thought Jaune. _"They must have a Keystone like me!"_

"Look," said Hyde, "I'm more than willing to fight, but we've pretty much been going around in circles fighting these random people from other worlds. Maybe we should start asking them to help us out."

"Don't be an idiot, Hyde," replied Linne. "You should know better than to rely on anyone from the other worlds."

"They can't be all bad, Linne. What if we come across someone who happens to want the same goal as us?"

"Better to be safe than sorry. I'm going to keep investigating up ahead. If you find someone with a Keystone, do not hesitate to take it from them. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

Linne rolled her eyes; she clearly would have tried to do this herself if it weren't for that stupid tag rule. It wasn't that Hyde was completely useless, but Linne was far more experienced about these sorts of situations than Hyde, and deep down, she was worried about getting Hyde involved in something he shouldn't, just like that dreadful night. In the blink of an eye, Linne suddenly ran out of sight. With seemingly no one around him, Hyde reached into his pocket and pulled out something; Jaune couldn't exactly tell what it was, but it was purple and definitely shining.

 _"Is that his Keystone?"_ thought Jaune. _"I have to get a closer look!"_

Jaune stood up and leaned over to try and see Hyde's Keystone without getting caught, only to suddenly lose his grip on the edge of the fountain and plunge right into the water. The sound of Jaune making a big splash startled Hyde; he shoved his Keystone back into his pocket and turned his attention to Jaune.

"Who's there?" yelled Hyde.

"Jeez that's cold!" said Jaune, jumping out of the fountain and trying to dry himself off.

"Who are you? Were you trying to get the jump on me?"

Jaune panicked, realizing he was busted.

"What?" said Jaune. "No! Not at all, I swear!"

"Then what are you doing here?"

Getting caught red handed and soaking wet, Jaune knew there wasn't going to be a point in trying to lie or run away, so he might as well come out with the truth.

"There's no use hiding it," said Jaune. "I overheard everything you and that girl were saying about the Keystones."

"You know something about them?" asked Hyde.

"The truth is...I have a Keystone too."

Jaune reluctantly pulled out his Keystone. Hyde was surprised that by dumb luck he wound up finding another person with a Keystone like his. Hyde pulled out his own Keystone to make sure they were the same. Sure enough, Jaune and Hyde's Keystones were the same size and shape; the only difference being Jaune's was colored red and Hyde's was colored purple.

"So there really are other Keystones after all," said Hyde.

"Yeah," said Jaune, "and now comes the hard part. I...I need your Keystone as well."

Knowing where this was inevitably leading towards, Hyde put away his Keystone and clapped his hands together. When he separated his hands, his signature weapon - a long red-tinted katana known as the Insulator - suddenly emerged from his left palm.

"You do realize I need this Keystone as well, right?" said Hyde, pointing his katana straight at Jaune's face. "I lose this Keystone, I lose any chance I have of going home!"

"I'm in the same position as you are, man!" said Jaune, pocketing his Keystone and pulling out his own sword and pointing it at Hyde. "I need to get the Keystones so my friends and I can go home!"

"Well, one of us is going to have to lose their Keystone, and I'm not going to let it be me by any means!"

"Same here! I've got friends that are counting on me!"

"And I've got people I need to save!"

Hyde and Jaune gripped their swords tight as they stared into the eyes of their foe, waiting for their opponent to make the first move. Both slowly started to move around in a circle, keeping their blades held high to protect themselves. Both teased making the first move, hoping to throw the other man off. Barely a minute passed by between the two young swordsmen but standing around doing nothing made it feel like an eternity.

"Well?" said Hyde. "Didn't you say you need my Keystone? Are you going to attack me or what?"

"What about you?" said Jaune. "You want my Keystone so badly, why not start attacking me?"

"I do want that Keystone! I just..."

"...you don't want really want to do this either, do you?"

As badly as these two wanted each other's Keystones, in the back of their minds, they really didn't want to fight each other. It would have been so much easier if the person standing across from them were clearly a villain or at least acted obnoxious enough to warrant a fight, but neither of them were malicious enough to justify taking serious action.

"Damn it, I can't do this!" said Hyde, taking a seat by the fountain. "I don't care what that voice said! This just doesn't feel right!"

"Yeah," said Jaune, taking a seat as well. "I mean, I want to get back to my world as well, but at the same time...I don't want it to be at the expense of you and everyone else trying to do the same thing!"

"I agree. Besides, I have no idea how these Keystones are supposed to do anything anyway! Do you have any idea about what's going on?"

"I'm about as clueless as you are."

Both looked up to the sky, with only a full moon lighting up the area; or rather, whatever the being behind this tournament was using to simulate a full moon, but neither Hyde nor Jaune wanted to give themselves a headache trying to think about it.

"Since we're not fighting each other," said Jaune, "we might as well get to know each other. I'm Jaune Arc; my friends and I got dragged into this tournament while we were training."

"Hyde Kido," said Hyde. "At first I thought this was another case of the Hollow Night and more In-births emerging, but nobody aside from people I know look to be In-births."

"In-births? Is that what they call the freaky super powered people in your world?"

"Yeah, but I really wouldn't describe them as...actually, now that I think about it, that fits a lot of the In-births I've seen. What do they call the people with special powers in your world?"

"Well, most of the people who have a special power known as a 'Semblance' become Huntsmen. We train to fight monsters who try harming people."

"Monster fighting, huh? I know a little too well what that's like."

"Let me guess: It's dangerous as all heck, but somebody's got to do it, right?"

"But were you dragged into it like I was?" asked Hyde, gripping down on one of his shoulders.

"Not really. I take it the way you're holding your shoulder, that wasn't the case with you?"

"I didn't exactly sign up to be an In-birth. I just happened to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. So whether I like it or not, I'm stuck fighting monsters for who knows how long. One day I'm going to end the Hollow Night for good and go back to being a normal kid with-"

"Normal knees?" said Jaune.

"What? Normal knees? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, um...never mind, I was thinking of someone else."

"Pardon the interruption, gentlemen!" said a posh feminine voice.

Hyde and Jaune looked around to see who was talking but didn't see anybody. They then noticed someone or something floating down from above; it appeared to be a young girl with body-length pigtails dressed in a frilly black gown, coming down from the sky with an umbrella with a giant cat's head on top. The girl gracefully landed in front of the two; she appeared to be just slightly older than the little girl Jaune saw talking to Hyde.

"Who are you?" asked Jaune.

"My name is Rachel Alucard," replied the strange girl.

"What are you supposed to be?" asked Hyde. "An In-birth, a Huntsman, or neither?"

"In-birth? Huntsman? I have no earthly idea what you're talking about. I am here because I believe you two have Keystones upon your persons, do you not?"

"And why exactly would you want to know?" asked Jaune.

"I think it's obvious as to why!" replied Hyde, standing up and gripping his sword. "The real question is what does she know about them?"

"Answer my question first!" said Rachel. "Do you or do you not have any Keystones?"

Despite being a tiny girl, something about the way Rachel spoke intimidated Jaune enough for him to quickly pull out his Keystone to show Rachel. Hyde wished Jaune didn't immediately do that, but since Jaune jumped the gun, Hyde pulled out his Keystone as well.

"The purple and red ones...perfect! Now, be so kindly as to hand over the Keystones, please."

"Um...no?" replied Hyde. "I'm not just going to hand over my Keystone to you."

"Same here!" said Jaune, standing up and grabbing his weapon. "These Keystones are too important for us to lose!"

"The both of you want to escape this world and return to your own respective worlds, do you not?" asked Rachel.

"No kidding?" said Hyde. "That's why I'm not giving you my Keystone!"

"That goes ditto for me!" said Jaune. "If you want our Keystones, you're either going to explain exactly what they are or fight us for it!"

"I don't have time to explain the details to two imbeciles who wouldn't understand," said Rachel. "I need those Keystones to ratify this situation we're all in."

"Like we're going to trust some random stranger who just shows up and starts making demands?" replied Hyde.

"Yeah!" said Jaune. "I've already got a random voice telling me what to do!"

"Random voice?" said Rachel. "Are you referring to the Moderator of this tournament?"

"The voice that just comes out and makes matches out of nowhere? Yeah, her!"

"Wait a minute," said Hyde. "Do you know who that voice is? You know something important about this tournament, don't you?"

"As I said before!" said Rachel, getting flustered from Hyde's accusations. "I don't have time to waste on details! Hand over the Keystones or else neither of us will make it home!"

"No thanks," said Hyde. "Linne would kill me if I made such a stupid decision."

"I'm with Hyde!" said Jaune. "That would be the one mistake my friends wouldn't forgive me for!"

"All right then," said Rachel. "Time for plan B. Noel! Come here at once!"

Suddenly, a girl with long blonde hair and wearing a small blue cloak and skirt quickly came running towards them. The most notable thing Jaune and Hyde noticed about her were the giant handguns she wielded in each hand.

"What is it, Rachel?" asked Noel. "Were these two trying to attack you?"

"Why do you assume WE did something wrong?!" said Jaune.

"If anything," said Hyde, "you two are the ones coming off as the bad guys!"

"These two have the Keystones we need!" said Rachel. "We must defeat them in order to retrieve the stones!"

Before Jaune or Hyde could explain what was happening, Noel pointed her guns at Jaune and Hyde.

"Please, surrender your Keystones or we'll use force!" said Noel.

"We're not giving up our Keystones!" said Hyde. "I don't care who I have to fight; no one is going to ruin my chances of getting home!"

"Me too!" said Jaune.

"Then use force we shall," said Rachel. "Moderator, please make this match official."

 **"Already on it! It's a battle between Jaune and Hyde vs. Rachel and Noel, with the winner walking away with not one, but TWO Keystones! That makes this match twice as exciting!"**

"So, which of you foolish gentlemen shall dance with me first?" asked Rachel.

"Allow me!" said Jaune, stepping up to face Rachel.

"Be careful, man," said Hyde. "Something tells me she's more dangerous than she appears."

"I'll be keeping an eye on you!" remarked Noel, pointing her guns at Hyde.

"Hey! I just said we're not the bad guys here!"

 **"All right, break it up you two! You'll have plenty of time to pummel each other as soon I officially begin the match! Is everybody ready?"**

"I'd rather you'd just get to the point already," said Rachel.

 **"Oh, you're no fun. Very well! Get ready...annnnd...FIGHT!"**

Jaune charged at Rachel as soon as the fight was officially started. Rachel simply waited for Jaune to get close before raising her hand up and causing a strong gust of wind to suddenly come up underneath Jaune and tripping him to fall flat on his face.

"Oh my," said Rachel. "Are you always this clumsy?"

Rather than respond, Jaune simply got up and swung his sword at Rachel; the part of Rachel's dress that looked like bat wings suddenly transformed into a giant fork and knife and blocked Jaune's swing. Jaune kept swinging at Rachel, only for Rachel to transform her bat wings into all sorts of weird objects to block Jaune's swings.

"Your dancing is dull and a blight on the eyes. Allow me to show you a truly elegant dance!"

Rachel's umbrella suddenly sprouted a giant arm and grabbed Jaune's sword, allowing Rachel to slash at Jaune with the wings on her dress. Rachel spun around like a ballerina as her wings turned into thorns, slashing Jaune several times across his armor. As Rachel flew high into the air, her bat suddenly transformed into a giant spike as Rachel quickly came falling; Jaune jumped back before he was crushed underneath Rachel. Rachel's cat umbrella transformed into a pillow, allowing Rachel to sit on the ground and relax.

"I didn't have any expectations about your dancing," said Rachel, before letting out a long yawn. "But I must say I'm quite disappointed by your complete lack of grace."

"I'll show you lack of grace!" yelled Jaune.

Jaune gripped his sword with both hands and went for one giant swing on Rachel; Rachel snapped her fingers and suddenly turned her cat pillow into a throne. As soon as Jaune struck the throne, he suddenly got electrocuted and was sent flying back.

"Indeed, you have," said Rachel. "I've barely used any of my power and I can already tell you are hardly a match for me."

"You tell him, princess!" said Nago, her talking cat familiar.

"He doesn't stand a chance against you!" said Gii, her talking bat familiar.

"Shut up you...whatever you things are!" said Jaune, angry to hear unnecessary commentary for his fight. "Just so you know, I haven't used the full extent of my power either!"

"Please tell me you aren't bluffing!" said Hyde.

"I'm not! I have a lot of power! I just..."

"Just what?" asked Rachel.

"I...don't-know-how-to-really-use-it," mumbled Jaune, not wanting to admit he had no idea how to tap into whatever his Semblance supposedly was. Hyde couldn't quite understand what Jaune said, but he knew it couldn't be good.

"Seriously Jaune," said Hyde, "maybe I should step in for you on this one."

"I concur," said Rachel. "This dance has become quite boring. I'll allow you to switch out unharmed just this once."

"I'm fine!" said Jaune. "Go ahead and throw out whatever weird stuff you've got! I'm ready for it!"

"If you insist," replied Rachel, turning Nago back into an umbrella as she stood up. "Let us continue this dance of ours!"

Rachel created a glyph and summoned a fat bat to throw at Jaune. As Jaune dodged the attack, the bat fell to the ground and suddenly transformed into a pole. Rachel threw two more bats at Jaune which also turned into poles behind Jaune. Hyde could instantly tell Rachel was setting up a big attack.

"Watch it, Jaune!" said Hyde. "Something tells me those things aren't just for show!"

"What things?" asked Jaune. Jaune turned around and noticed the poles created by Rachel's familiars. "Trying to set me up for a trap, huh? We'll see about that!"

Before Rachel can use her attack, Jaune swung his sword at the poles, cutting each of them apart. The bats used by Rachel all collapsed to the ground, looking like they couldn't get back up.

"I'm not that dumb!" said Jaune. "You'll have to do better than that to beat me!"

"Oh, darn!" said Rachel. "And here I thought I had you cornered! Curses!"

 _"Why did that sound heavily sarcastic?"_ thought Hyde.

As Rachel was acting like she had been caught red-handed, the bats Jaune knocked over suddenly got up and were flying towards Jaune.

"Jaune, look out!" yelled Hyde.

"Look out for-?"

Jaune was suddenly cut off by the bats suddenly bursting into bolts of lightning that electrocuted Jaune upon contact. After that last attack, Jaune was down on one knee, feeling his aura getting low.

"Was that better?" asked Rachel, in response to Jaune's boastful remark. "And now for your punishment!"

Rachel turned Nago into a cannon and fired several bats at Jaune, all turning into poles surrounding Jaune. With Jaune on the verge of getting himself eliminated, Hyde knew now was the time to tag himself in.

"Jaune, duck!" yelled Hyde.

Jaune laid on the ground as Hyde swung his katana and released his Black Orbiter projectile towards Rachel, cutting off Rachel's familiars. Rachel quickly turned Nago into a shield to protect herself from the attack.

"Looks like you're not quite as foolish as your partner," remarked Rachel.

"And you're not clever as you think you are!" said Hyde as he helped Jaune get back to his feet. "I'll take it from here, Jaune!"

Barely able to move at that point, Jaune didn't protest as he simply nodded and shuffled aside to get out of Hyde's way. Hyde held up his katana and looked down the blade of his weapon towards Rachel, as if taking aim and getting ready to lunge his sword at Rachel. Hyde held out his sword and swiftly rushed towards Rachel; before Hyde could reach Rachel, Rachel used her power over wind to fly several feet up, distancing herself safely away from Hyde.

"I doubt even someone like you can reach me-"

Just when Rachel thought she was in the clear, Hyde suddenly jumped towards Rachel with his blade, catching Rachel off guard and slashing upwards across her body. As both landed back on the ground, Rachel turned Nago into a blade to thrust at Hyde; Hyde ducked and swept Rachel off her feet with a roundhouse kick. As Rachel tried to get up, Hyde swiftly jumped towards her and kneed her in the face, following up with several upward slashes with his sword, sending both into the air. Hyde knocked Rachel back to the ground with one final swing; Jaune was surprised to see how good Hyde was with just his sword.

"Whoa!" said Jaune. "How are you able to do that?"

"Would you believe me if I said this thing's got a mind of its own?" replied Hyde. As much as Hyde would love to brag about how strong he was, he knew it also helped his weapon sometimes acted on its own and his body simply followed suit.

"Princess!" said Nago. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," said Rachel, getting up and dusting herself off. "It seems I've underestimated the opposition. Care to dance in my stead, Noel?"

"No problem!" said Noel, running in and pointing her guns at Hyde. "This is your final warning! You can still surrender the Keystones peacefully and avoid this fighting!"

"How many times do we have to say 'no' until you finally get it?" said Hyde. "Don't you realize what will happen if I lose the Keystone?"

"But I'm just trying to-"

"Enough, Noel!" said Rachel. "There's no point in talking to these fools! Now hurry up and dispose of them!"

Seeing Noel hesitating to fight, Hyde tried to take advantage by created a large Black Orbiter and launching it at Noel. Noel ceased arguing with Rachel and instead slid under the Black Orbiter, then quickly got back to her feet and ran towards Hyde, firing several rounds of her Ars Magus bullets. Hyde held up his sword to block the strange magical bullets Noel was firing. Hyde swung his Insulator at Noel, but Noel easily dodged Hyde's swings as she kept firing her revolvers no matter her position, all without missing a beat in her step. Desperate to land a hit, Hyde swung for Noel's head. Before the blade got near Noel, Noel suddenly spun herself towards Hyde and was able to get behind him in an instant, avoiding his attack and shoulder tackling to the ground. Noel aimed her revolver and fired several rounds on a fallen Hyde. Even though the Ars Magus bullets didn't penetrate through Hyde, they still caused some serious back pain for the young In-birth. Hyde slowly got back up to one knee as Noel kept her guns pointed at Hyde.

"You can see now how outmatched you are," said Noel. "I'll still give you one more chance to give up."

"Give it up, Noel!" said Rachel. "These fools are too arrogant to give up now."

"Yeah!" said Jaune. "We're too...I mean, we're not giving up! Right, Hyde?"

"Sorry Jaune," winced Hyde, "but I'm not sure we can take them."

As Hyde was gripping his shoulder with his left hand, his right hand was shaking as his Insulator was slowly covering itself in dark energy. Noel noticed the sword being covered in its dark aura.

"What are you up to with that sword?" asked Noel.

"You tell me!" said Hyde. "Sometimes my hand doesn't listen and does something like-"

Before Hyde finished, he suddenly jumped up and swung his energy covered Insulator upward at Noel; the power of the sword's mysterious energy was enough to send Noel flying back.

"...that," finished Hyde. With Noel thrown off by Hyde's surprise attack, Hyde went back on the offensive, trying to keep pressure on Noel with constant slashes of his Insulator. Between Noel's hesitation and his strange sword, Rachel knew Hyde was not going to be as easy to defeat as she first thought.

 _"That boy with the katana is stronger than I thought,"_ thought Rachel. _"Perhaps it's time to employ the assistance of one George XIII."_

Rachel created a small summoning glyph and brought out a large frog, who proceeded to crawl towards his intended target. Meanwhile, Noel was trying to counter Hyde's slashing with her mix of kicks and gunfire, avoiding most of Hyde's attacks from the way she danced around him. Jaune was watching how Noel was fighting and tried to find a flaw to her style he and Hyde could use to their advantage but couldn't find any weakness to exploit.

 _"That girl with the guns is so fast and unpredictable!"_ thought Jaune. _"Unless she somehow runs out of ammo, I'm not sure what we can do to beat her!"_

As Jaune was watching the battle unfold, Jaune noticed something crawling on the ground near where Noel and Hyde were fighting. Jaune got a better look and realized it was a large frog. Jaune couldn't help but turn his attention to the frog, wondering if Hyde or Noel would stop in order to not accidentally hit the frog.

 _"Is that a frog? Did that thing come out of the fountain? I hope it doesn't accidentally get in the way. Although, now that I think about, this is the first time I've seen any kind of animal in this..."_

As Jaune was realizing he never saw any animals since coming to this strange world, he noticed the frog stopped and look up, as if trying to watch the fight itself. When Hyde and Noel stopped to catch their breath, the frog started crawling towards Hyde.

 _"Wait a minute...it must be another one of those weird girl's tricks! I have to stop it from reaching Hyde!"_

Hyde and Noel stopped for a few seconds to catch their breath, both evenly matched and unaware of the little amphibian about to attack Hyde.

"You're not a bad fighter!" said Hyde, holding up his katana. "But I'm just getting started showing how strong I really am!"

"Look out, Hyde!" yelled Jaune, suddenly jumping towards Hyde with his shield. Hyde quickly stepped aside as Jaune dove to the ground hiding behind his shield, blocking George XIII as he tried to hop onto Hyde. As soon as George made contact with Jaune's shield, he let loose a burst of electricity that would have done serious damage had Jaune not used his shield to absorb some of the electricity. Once George discharged, he quickly vanished into thin air.

"What the hell was that?" asked Hyde.

"That weird girl tried to use one of her animals on you!"

Despite George XIII not reaching Hyde, he did ultimately provide a distraction as Rachel planned. With Hyde distracted by Rachel's familiars, Noel knew now was the time to break out the big guns. Noel ran up to Hyde as she transformed her revolvers into her Gatling gun, Fenrir. Noel knocked Hyde back with the barrel of her Fenrir, then proceeded to fire powerful rapid rounds into Hyde. Hyde was unable to shield himself from the onslaught of Ars Magus rounds coming from Noel's Fenrir; Noel eventually used the force of her Ars Magus rounds to launch Hyde into the air. As Hyde was in the air, Noel then transformed Fenrir back into her revolvers with a small rocket attached one of the gun's barrels. Noel took aim and fired her rocket at Hyde, dealing a serious amount of damage.

Seeing Hyde nearly knocked out by Noel's attack, Jaune stumbled back to his feet and tried to get under Hyde to break his fall. Hyde landed on top of Jaune, both collapsing to the floor and barely able to move.

"You okay, Hyde?" asked Jaune.

"I feel like my entire body is suffering a headache," said Hyde. "Yourself?"

"Yeah...same."

The two couldn't help but give sheepish smiles to each other at the thought of two complete strangers appearing to be one in the same, at least in terms of how messed up both were feeling now.

"Moderator, I believe this match is now over!" said Rachel. "Declare us the winners now!"

 **"Sorry Rachel, but I still sense some fighting spirit in these two! The match goes on!"**

"Are you sure?" asked Noel. "Because neither of them look like-"

"Very well!" said Rachel. "Which of you shall step up for one final dance?"

"I've still got plenty of energy left in me!" said Hyde, standing up and holding up his sword.

"Wait!" said Jaune, slowly getting back to his feet as well. "You've done more than enough in this fight! Time for me to make up for it!"

"But you can barely move, Jaune! Just sit back and let me handle this!"

"No way! I'm not going to let you lose your Keystone because of me!"

"And what if you get taken down? That means you lose your Keystone as well!"

"I have no time for this!" declared Rachel. "If neither of you fools can decide who falls first, then I shall decide for you!"

As Rachel charged towards them, Jaune held up his shield and decided he was going to step up against Rachel. Once Rachel was close enough, Jaune tried to swing his sword down on Rachel, only for Rachel to suddenly conjure up a tornado that launched Jaune into the air and falling into the fountain behind Hyde. With Jaune out of the way, Rachel could now focus on the In-birth causing her so much trouble.

The damage done by Noel was a lot worse than Hyde wanted to let on. As Hyde was trying to fight off Rachel, his swings were noticeably weaker and slower than before, allowing Rachel to easily block them with her transforming bat wings. As Hyde kept making blind swings, Rachel threw several bats at Hyde, surrounding him with the lightning rods she used before. After blocking another swing from Hyde, Rachel kicked Hyde hard in the shin, then back-slapped him so hard he fell to the ground, positioned right between the lightning rods.

"I must say you were quite a lovely dancer," said Rachel. "But I'm afraid this is where we must bid adieu."

With Hyde too weak to get up in time, Rachel spread out her wings and created a giant lightning storm with the help of her rods. By the time Jaune finally got up, the storm had already ceded; Hyde collapsed to the ground, unable to keep fighting. A soaking wet Jaune stumbled out of the fountain and ran over to Hyde.

"Hyde!" said Jaune. "Are you all right?"

"Dammit," said Hyde. "I wasn't as strong as I thought. Sorry I couldn't hold out longer, Jaune."

"C'mon man, you can still do this!" Jaune tried to pick up Hyde to get him back to his feet, but Hyde swatted Jaune's arm away.

"Forget about me, Jaune. It's all up to you now. But hey...no hard feelings if we lose, all right?"

 **"A strong effort from our rookie In-birth, but I'm afraid he's in no condition to continue! Tough break, Jauney-boy!"**

Jaune barely knew Hyde, but seeing Hyde lie there in defeat upset him. He could only imagine the friends Hyde had likely let down; how they would feel knowing their chances of going home had gone up in smoke; how Hyde may never forgive himself for screwing everything up.

Even though she was half responsible for it, Noel felt somewhat guilty having to take down Hyde the way she did.

"Is he going to be all right?" asked Noel.

"He'll be fine...eventually," said Rachel. "Now to take out the other ruffian and obtain his Keystone as well."

"Do you even realize what you've done?" asked Jaune.

"I beg your pardon?" said Rachel.

"I said do you know what you've done? Or maybe...you just don't care!"

Jaune turned back towards the pair, tears coming down his face as he tightly gripped his shield and sword.

"We need these Keystones to go home...to save our friends...and you...you just took that all away from him! He could have just taken my Keystone like his friend told him to! He didn't have to help me protect my Keystone at the cost of his own, and now he might never get home! Does any of that matter to you?!"

"Were you not paying attention to what I said before?" asked an annoyed Rachel. "I know what we need the Keystones for! Had you only obeyed my instructions instead of whining like petulant children, you could have avoided all this! You and your friend have no one to blame but yourselves!"

"But Rachel," said Noel, "don't you think you're being a bit harsh on them? I mean, if you told them the truth about the Keystones-"

"I've wasted enough time babbling! Prepare for your final dance!"

Jaune didn't have a strategy for winning, so he just charged head-on towards Rachel as if blinded with rage. Rachel waited for Jaune to get close before Nago changed forms to strike Jaune with an overhead chop. Jaune held his shield up to block Nago's attack, then Jaune swung his sword at Rachel with everything he had, able to land a decent hit on Rachel and pushing her back. Seeing his chance to follow-up, Jaune went for another swing before Noel suddenly slid in and fired her Ars Magus bullet at Jaune's feet to trip him over.

"This isn't personal!" said Noel. "I'm just doing what I must!"

With Noel taking Rachel's place, Jaune got up and swung at Noel, only for Noel to easily dodge his swing and fire another bullet into Jaune. The more Jaune kept trying to swing, the more Noel dodged and fired another bullet into Jaune.

 _"This is bad,"_ thought Hyde. _"Jaune doesn't stand a chance. I guess this really is the end for both of us. Sorry, Linne."_

Eventually, Jaune was too weak to keep going and needed to catch his breath, barely holding himself by a thread.

"Now, Noel!" commanded Rachel. "Finish him off!"

Noel nodded and jumped high into the air, firing several powerful rounds with her hand guns. Without any way to reach Noel, Jaune held up his shield and tried to block the oncoming rain of bullets, but even blocking barely helped as the force of the bullets still damaged him. Noel then transformed her guns into her rocket launcher Thor and fired. The rocket collided into Jaune and caused a massive explosion, covering the area around Jaune in black smoke.

"Is it over?" asked Noel.

"Of course, it is," said Rachel. "That boy was down on his last legs; there's no way he could have withstood..."

As the smoke was starting to clear up, no one could believe what they suddenly saw. They expected Jaune to be out cold, but instead, he was still standing with his shield held up, covered in a bright blue and white aura. Despite being shot several times by Noel, Jaune appeared to have taken no damage. In fact, it was looking like he was getting some of his health restored. Even Jaune was surprised by this sudden turn of events.

"No way!" said Noel. "He survived it somehow!"

 _"Was Jaune telling the truth about his power?"_ thought Hyde. _"That guy must be incredibly lucky."_

 _"Whoa,"_ thought Jaune. _"I feel like I'm stronger than ever! Is this how Kanji and Makoto felt before? Either way, I'm glad it kicked in now!"_

 _"Where did THIS suddenly come from?"_ thought Rachel. _"Could this be that power he said he couldn't tap into? Or perhaps...if my theory about this place is true..."_

Not wanting to let his newfound power go to waste, Jaune immediately ran towards Noel. Noel spun around Jaune and attempted to shoulder tackle him from behind; Jaune immediately turned around and blocked Noel's tackle with his shield, then swung his sword to knock Noel's guns out of her hands.

"Sorry," said Jaune. "But I too am doing what I must!"

Without her weapons to defend herself, Jaune made several wild swings against Noel, chipping away at whatever health Noel had left until she was knocked out.

 **"Whoa! Jaune is on fire and he looks like he's taking no prisoners! It all comes down to this final moment!"**

"Sudden power surge or no," said Rachel, "you are still a sloppy dancer that I will annihilate in no time!"

Jaune ran towards Rachel with his shield held up. Rachel waited for Jaune to get close as usual before she would attack and make Jaune look like an idiot. Rachel summoned another tornado to launch Jaune, only for Jaune to roll to the side at the last second to avoid getting hit, then get up and jump towards Rachel with his sword. Rachel used her wings to block Jaune's sword as usual, but this time she could feel Jaune put more force into his swing. Jaune kept on the offensive, constantly swinging at Rachel as she kept transforming her wings to parry his attacks. Rachel could tell Jaune's swings were faster and stronger than before; while parrying Jaune's attacks with the help of her familiars, she tried to piece together the mystery of Jaune's sudden strength.

 _"Even if this boy has some hidden power, there's no way he could suddenly be this strong! There's definitely something afoul about this world! If the other participants tap into this power as well..."_

While Rachel was thinking to herself, Nago tried to punch Jaune as hard as he could; Jaune held up his shield to block. The force from hitting Jaune's shield was enough to cause Rachel to stumble back. Jaune jumped towards Rachel and swung down with everything he had; Rachel moved back as the tip of Jaune's sword scraped across her cheek. Rachel held two fingers to her cheek where Jaune had slashed her, and noticed she had a small trickle of blood coming from her cut.

 _"I'm not sure how long this surge the boy has will last, but I can't risk getting myself injured! Perhaps it's time to execute my backup plan!"_

"Enough!" said Rachel. "I submit!"

"Not if I defeat you first!" said Jaune, ready to keep fighting. It took him a few seconds before he realized what Rachel had just said. "Wait...what?"

"Princess!" shouted Nago. "Surely you can't be serious!"

"We can take him down no problem!" said Gii.

"I'm afraid I've been bested for now," said Rachel. "But do not worry my loyal servants! We will obtain all the Keystones eventually once I employ 'her' help instead."

"Her?" asked Jaune. "Who's 'her?'"

Rachel opened up Nago and created a strong gust of wind to fly herself away from the battle. Jaune's aura wound down back to normal as he stood there puzzled as to why Rachel suddenly decided to just up and leave.

 **"Well...since one of our contestants has decided to forfeit, our winners are Jaune and Hyde! Congrats on your successful Keystone defense! That fight is definitely going down in the Keystone Tournament history books!"**

"Thank goodness!" said Jaune, breathing a sigh of relief. With his Keystone safe in his possession, Jaune went to check on Hyde. "You all right, Hyde?"

"A bit bruised up," said Hyde, "but I'll be just fine. So, that thing you did...was that your Semblance you were talking about?"

"I...really don't know."

"Wait. So... you don't know your own Semblance?"

"I'm sorry. I won't blame you if you think I'm some idiot who is new at this."

"Don't worry. I've got friends who think of me that way."

Before the two can talk about what to do now, they noticed that one of their opponents was still laid out.

"Should we...check on her?" asked Jaune.

"Might as well," said Hyde. "It would bother me if we just let her lay there like that, and I don't think that gothic girl is coming back."

Jaune nodded and the two went over to wake up Noel and see if she was all right. Noel opened her eyes and sat up between them.

"What's going on?" asked Noel. "Where's Rachel?"

"Your friend ran away," said Hyde. "So...still think we're the bad guys?"

"I'm so sorry!" said Noel, clapping her hands in apology. "I wasn't trying to prevent you from going home with your friends! It's just Rachel said it was important for her to get all the Keystones to get everyone out of the Phantom Field!"

"The Phantom Field?" said Jaune.

"This must be the name of this world we've all been taken to," said Hyde. "But why exactly does she need the Keystones?"

"She really wouldn't say," said Noel. "But...I have a feeling she knows what's going on."

"Yet she couldn't bother telling us anything and decides to try to take our Keystones by force. Yeah, THAT certainly was a brilliant idea!"

"Let me guess," said Jaune. "You were told to get the Keystones or else you couldn't go home either?"

"Yes!" said Noel. "Were you-"

"Told the same thing by that random voice," said Hyde. "It looks like there's a lot of us who all have the same goal...and I have a bad feeling only one of us will ultimately reach it."

"Only...one of us?"

"I mean, that's what I assume. Any tournament, even one as messed up as this, ultimately comes down to one winner. Maybe that's what the weird girl didn't want to tell us."

"But that would mean if she took your Keystones..." Noel shook her head, trying to get the thought of Rachel being that deceiving out of her head. "No! I refuse to believe Rachel would do that!"

"Well it didn't help she never bothered telling us the truth! I don't want to assume the worst either, but..."

An awkward silence fell between the trio. If Hyde was right about only one team coming out the winner, that would mean so many people were never going back home. For all they knew, they'd either be stuck in this Phantom Field for good, or possibly suffer a much worse fate.

"Well...maybe there is a way everyone can go home to their respective worlds!" said Jaune.

"But how are we going to accomplish that?" asked Noel.

"By gathering all of the Keystones!"

"Uh, Earth to Jaune?" said Hyde. "How is that ANY DIFFERENT than what we were already trying to do?"

"Because so far, we were just told to FIGHT each other over it, but maybe if we can get trustworthy people to come together with the Keystones without coming to blows, we might figure out a way of here!"

"That's a great idea!" said Noel. "That way nobody has to fight and take each other's Keystones! We might all go home at once!"

"I guess we could give it a shot," said Hyde. "Now here's the next problem: Just how many Keystones are we supposed to find anyway?"

"Rachel told me each respective Keystone is connected to the worlds involved in this tournament," said Noel.

"One Keystone for each world, huh?" said Jaune. "Let's see...there's my world, so that's one. There's Hyde's world with the 'In-births'...that's two. Earlier I met someone who had a weird power called a 'Persona', and there's Noel's world. So, unless more people suddenly show up, that makes four worlds in all."

"Which means there are four Keystones out there," said Hyde. "Who would have the other two?"

"Well, if you and I started out with our world's Keystones, someone from the 'Persona' world must have one, and someone from Noel's world should have the other. Noel, do you know anyone from your world who might have the Keystone?"

"There's someone I know who might have it," said Noel. "If I find him here, he just might have the Keystone!"

"Not much of a lead," said Hyde. "That's ONLY if he was taken here."

"It's better than nothing," said Jaune. "As for the Persona world's Keystone, if anyone finds the one with that Keystone, tell them about our alliance together! I'm sure we'll all bump into each other again!"

"Okay!" said Noel. "Good luck, everyone!"

Noel ran off in search of the one she believed to hold her world's keystone. Jaune was about to part ways himself when Hyde called out to him.

"Hold on, Jaune," said Hyde. "I need to tell you something."

"What's wrong?" asked Jaune.

"Since you were honest with me before, I'm going to be honest myself." Hyde held up his sword and pointed it at Jaune with a serious look in his eyes. "On the chance that this alliance idea doesn't work, and it turns out only one group of people from their world can really go home...I'm not going to hesitate in fighting you for those Keystones. You understand?"

Jaune didn't want to think about his alliance idea backfiring, but he couldn't disagree with what Hyde said. If Jaune was wrong, that would leave Hyde - and just about everyone else - having no other choice than to fight for themselves.

"Yeah...I understand," said Jaune, before turning around and quickly running off.

 _"And I hope it doesn't come to that."_


	5. The Keystone Conspiracy

**A/N: The story is alive again. I'll explain my hiatus at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

 _Convenience Store - Inaba_

As Jaune walked around the latest mysterious location he found himself in, he couldn't get Hyde's final words out of his head. No matter how hard Jaune tried to believe in his own plan, those words Hyde said to him before he left was getting to him.

 _"Could it be true only one world gets to go home? Then Kanji, and Makoto, and their friends..."_

As much as Jaune wanted this tournament to end, he couldn't help but appreciate some of the people he wound up bumping into. If Jaune had met Kanji or Makoto or Hyde in his own world, they all could have been some of his best friends. But if only one world was going to win this tournament, then that would be the end for them, and for the friends they needed to protect. How could Jaune possibly come to terms with himself knowing he was jeopardizing the lives of people just trying to do the same thing he was doing?

 _"Darn it, it just can't be true! I'm sure we'll all be able to get out of here and back to our worlds!"_

Jaune leaned against the wall of what appeared to be a convenience store - which wasn't convenient considering there was no one to run it - and held his hand to his eyes to stop himself from crying.

 _"It can't be true only one world goes home! It just can't!"_

"Are you all right, Jaune?" said a familiar stoic voice behind him.

"All right?" said Jaune. "How can I be all right when only one...wait..."

Jaune turned around to the voice and gasped. Unless he was hallucinating, standing in front of him was the cool-headed philosopher of Team JNPR himself, Lie Ren.

"Ren!" yelled Jaune, wiping his tears and hugging Ren. "Oh man, you don't know how glad I am to see you!"

"I take it you've been through quite a lot," said Ren, patting Jaune on the back. "Where's Pyrrha? Did you two get separated?"

"We split up just after these two crazy powerful guys attacked us in the forest, and I've been fighting more crazy people ever since!"

"Not all by yourself I hope."

"Thankfully, no! But speaking of being alone...where's Nora? Did you get split up as well?"

"Afraid so," sighed Ren. "As soon as we got out of Forever Fall, we ran into people from other worlds. One thing leads to another, and Nora got us into fights with them. Then she got carried away and went off on her own before I was able to catch up with her."

"With all the weirdos I've been bumping into, I hope she'll be okay."

"Nora can handle things by herself. Quite frankly, I'm more worried for anyone having to face her. So, have you been able to protect the Keystone we need?"

"Yeah," said Jaune, taking out his Keystone. "Although reaching the goal isn't going to be as easy as I thought."

Jaune explained everything that happened to him to Ren, including all the new info he had about the Keystones and his plan on getting everyone back home.

"So, there are four keystones in all," said Ren, "and you think gathering all of them could get everybody back to their respective worlds?"

"That's what I'm hoping," said Jaune, "and if things don't go as planned...well..."

"We'll need to fend for ourselves. In that case, it's best the four of us get back together so we stand a better chance at whatever comes our way."

"But considering how random this Phantom Field is, who even knows how far we have to go to find them! We might be too late!"

"Don't worry," said Ren. "I met someone who I think could be of big help."

"Really? Are you sure we can trust them? Because for every person I meet who is trustworthy, I meet several who aren't!"

"He did help me out in some encounters I've been through, so I doubt he's the kind of man to backstab us."

"All right. If you can trust him, then I can trust him too! Is he here?"

"He's right behind me," said Ren. "Jaune, meet Mister Jubei."

Ren stepped aside as Jaune expected to meet Ren's new ally but found nobody standing behind him.

"Um...is he invisible?" asked Jaune.

"Look down, Jaune," said Ren. Jaune looked down and saw a two-tailed cat standing on his hind legs, wearing a big yellow coat and an eyepatch on his right eye. Jaune didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't a small animal.

"You found...a cat? How is he going to help us?"

"You know," said Jubei, "most people say, 'thank you' and 'you're welcome' when getting help!"

"Oh...he talks. I should have figured. My apologies, Mister Jubei."

"Well, at least you're polite enough to apologize, though to be honest, I had expected you to start freaking out over the sight of a talking cat."

"I've met weirder, trust me. Anyway, how will you help us, Mister Jubei?"

"I'm pretty good at sniffing people out. You know, being a cat and all."

"He's also quite a skilled swordsman," said Ren. "So, if anybody comes out to ambush us, he's also capable of watching our backs."

"Which speaking of..."

Jubei gripped the handle of his katanas and surveyed his surroundings, before setting his sights on a nearby mailbox on the corner of the block.

"Something wrong, Mister Jubei?" asked Ren.

"It seems we have another guest," said Jubei, pulling out his katanas. "Whoever is out there, show yourself!"

Everyone pulled out their weapons and turned towards the same direction as Jubei, waiting for whatever hostile force was stalking them. Behind the mailbox stood a small teenager in a blue trench coat and cap. They appeared to be a male younger than Ren and Jaune.

"I figured I was going to be spotted by you," said the mysterious blue-clad teenager. "You've got quite a nose there, Jubei-san."

"Thanks, kid," said Jubei. "Now mind telling us who you are and why you were hiding from us?"

"Naoto Shirogane, private detective. I've been trying to gather as much info as I can about this Keystone tournament without having to be dragged into a fight. But it looks like you busted me, Jubei-san."

"Sorry about that. Can never be too careful around here, you know?"

"I understand. In fact, I'm kind of relieved I don't have to keep hiding from you."

"I'm just relieved we're not fighting!" said Jaune, sheathing his sword back into his shield. "Nice to meet you, Naoto. My name's-"

"Jaune Arc," interrupted Naoto. "The other man is Lie Ren, your friend from the same world as yours."

"Huh? How did you know that?"

"Like I said, I've been observing a lot of the tournament from behind the scenes. That's how I'm able to know almost everyone here."

"Oh really? Does this mean you know everything about me?"

"Enough to know the kind of person you are, Jaune Arc."

Naoto reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a notebook, skimming through the pages until he reached the section regarding Jaune.

"From what I've gathered, you're not necessarily skilled at combat, but you make up for it with defensive tactics and a bit of luck."

"That's Jaune, all right," said Ren.

"Oh c'mon!" moaned Jaune. "He doesn't know EVERYTHING about me! If he did, would he know what I have underneath my armor?"

"Are you referring to the Keystone in your pocket or the logo for Pumpkin Pete?" replied Naoto.

Jaune's spine suddenly froze in place as his skin turned pale. He couldn't believe just how much this boy knew about him.

"That's impressive," said Ren. "You really are quite the detective, Naoto."

"He must be a psychic!" yelled Jaune.

"I assure you I have no such powers," said Naoto.

"But how else could you have known about the logo on my hoodie?!"

"That was a bit too on the nose," said Jubei. "How did you know that?"

"It's simple," said Naoto. "I've been told a lot of things about you from Kanji-kun."

"Kanji-kun...oh, Kanji!" said Jaune. "You're one of Kanji's friends! Yeah...that makes a lot more sense."

"See, Jaune?" said Ren. "The simplest answer is most often correct."

"Right. So, I assume you can use a Persona as well?"

"Indeed," said Naoto. "Now back to the business at hand."

Naoto flipped through more pages before reaching all the notes he took regarding the Keystones.

"You have the red Keystone. A friend of mine is holding the yellow Keystone that represents my world, and from what I've gathered, there's a purple Keystone held by someone from the world of 'In-births,' and a blue Keystone from the world Jubei-san is from."

"You really know your stuff, kid!" said Jubei. "Now, you wouldn't happen to know what the Keystones are for, do you?"

"I'm not sure yet," replied Naoto.

"I know what they're for!" said Jaune. "They're for getting us home!"

"Are they?"

"Yes! That's what the Moderator keeps telling me!"

"And has that Moderator been all that truthful?"

Now that Jaune thought about it, he was only assuming the Keystones was what he needed to get home because it was the only thing the mysterious Moderator decided to tell him. Any time Jaune tried to get more information from the omnipresent voice calling this tournament, she would just ignore him. Who was to say that the voice was telling the truth about the Keystones in the first place?

"You got a point," said Jaune. "No one including the Moderator has really told us the truth about the Keystones."

"Naoto," said Ren, "you said you were gathering notes on everyone. What can you tell us about this Moderator?"

"You might want to sit down," said Naoto, "because I've got a lot of notes and theories about her."

Naoto skimmed through his notebook and reached the section dedicated to everything he was able to gather about the voice.

"Let's start with what we do know about her. She has a lot of knowledge about all the worlds in this tournament, including the settings like the one we're in now. I recognize this place as one of the shopping districts in Inaba."

"Wait," said Jaune. "Does that mean she's teleported parts of each world as well?"

"I don't think she's capable of that much. No...it's more like they're carbon copies."

"That makes sense," said Ren. "Everywhere I've been to has felt lifeless, as if we weren't in the genuine locations."

"So she copied parts of everyone's worlds," said Jaune, "and then used it to make up her own world called the Phantom Field?"

"Precisely," replied Naoto.

"Now here's the follow-up question," said Jubei. "Where did 'she' even come from in the first place?"

"Is it possible she's from another world we don't know about?" asked Ren.

"I've thought about that possibility," said Naoto. "However, I find it more likely that she may have originated from one of our worlds."

"Considering the things I've seen?" said Jubei. "I wouldn't be surprised if this 'Moderator' as you call her came from my world."

"Hold on," said Jaune. "Mister Jubei, you wouldn't happen to know someone named Rachel Alucard, do you?"

"Rachel? Yeah...you met her?"

"Met her? She tried to take my Keystone, claiming she needed it to fix this situation we're in without explaining why!"

Jubei sighed, not surprised by Rachel's behavior. "Yeah, that sounds like her all right. Even if she knew what was going on, no amount of interrogation is going to get the truth out of her."

"And it still leaves us with the biggest question left to be answered," said Naoto. "What is the ultimate end goal of this tournament?"

"I've been wondering that since I got here!" said Jaune. "Tell me you have some sort of answer to this!"

"Nothing definitive I'm afraid."

"UGH! I feel like we're going in circles! There's got to be SOMETHING we can do to figure this out!"

"Perhaps we can think of something later," said Ren. "I think we should try finding our friends first."

"Of course," said Naoto. "My apologies for taking up your time."

"No apologies needed!" said Jaune. "In fact, maybe you should come with us!"

"Sorry, but I have other matters to investigate."

"Well, good luck and be careful then. Let's go, Mister Jubei!"

Jaune, Ren, and Naoto were just about to go their separate ways, when Jubei called for everyone's attention.

"Hold on," said Jubei. "Before any of you go anywhere, I have an idea that might help shed some light on this tournament, but I'm going to need the full cooperation from all three of you."

"All of us?" asked Jaune. "But what about finding our friends?"

"If Mister Jubei has a plan," said Ren, "I think we should give it a listen."

"Well...if you say so, then I'm in too!"

"You have my support, Jubei-san," said Naoto. "What is it you want us to do?"

"First of all," said Jubei, "I want to know more about you personally, Naoto."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Talk about yourself. What are your likes and dislikes? You got a family? Maybe someone special back home?"

Naoto almost blushed about being put on the spot and having to talk about his personal life to essentially three random strangers, but if Jubei insisted, he decided to go along with it.

"Well," said Naoto, "my parents passed away when I was young, so I lived with my grandfather. Being a detective has been a part of my family lineage for generations, and so I do everything I can to bring honor to the Shirogane name."

"I certainly think you're doing a good job of that," said Jubei. "How about your friends?"

"I never really had friends until I investigated a case in Inaba, but the people I've met there are some of the best people I've ever met...Kanji-kun especially."

"That's nice. As for myself? I've got a daughter back home. She's a real genius with science...no thanks to me."

Naoto noticed Jubei looking sideways towards the ground. It seems mentioning his daughter didn't conjure up the kind of good feelings Naoto had mentioning his own friends.

"I can tell from your tone that your relationship is estranged," replied Naoto.

"Yeah. We don't really get along that much."

"And you blame yourself for it because of your own misdoings."

As much as Jubei hated to think about how he strained his relationship with his family, he looked up to Naoto and smiled.

"You really are good at being a detective," said Jubei.

"Not to sound like a jerk about this," said Jaune, "but where is this going exactly?"

"That was step one. Now it's time for step two, which I'll need you and Ren to help out with."

"Sure. What do you want us to do?"

"Hey, voice lady!" yelled Jubei. "If you're out there, we want to have our match now!"

"Match?"

 **"Finally! It's about time SOMEBODY around here figured out how to abide by the rules! I think the rest of you can learn a lesson from Jubei here!"**

"How am I supposed to abide by the rules when you don't tell me what they are half the time?!" yelled Jaune.

 **"Let's get this started! It's Jaune and Ren vs Jubei and Naoto for the Keystone!"**

"Wait, what? Are we seriously going to fight each other?" asked Jaune.

"Of course!" said Naoto. "This is a perfect plan, Jubei-san!"

"What plan? Were you two planning to steal our Keystone this whole time?!"

"No, Jaune," said Ren. "I understand what Mister Jubei is trying to do."

"So, which of you is going to step up first?" asked Jubei.

"If it's okay with you, I'd like for the two of us to begin this fight, Mister Jubei."

"Works for me! Just make sure you don't hold back! I want you two to fight me like your lives depended on it."

"Don't worry, I will!" said Jaune, still wondering why Jubei had called for a match and everyone else was getting on board with the idea.

Jaune and Naoto stood back as Ren and Jubei positioned themselves. Ren took out his Storm Flowers while Jubei held his katanas, the two of them focusing intensely on the other.

 **"Annnnd...FIGHT!"**

The two fighters charged straight towards each other. Jubei grabbed one katana with his hand and swung at Ren; Ren blocked it using the blade from one of his Storm Flowers. Jubei quickly grabbed his second katana using his tail and swung at Ren, who also blocked the oncoming blade. Despite Jubei's lightning fast swings with his katanas, Ren was able to keep up and parry every one of Jubei's attacks, occasionally firing some rounds whenever he got the chance, although it did nothing to stop Jubei's pace. Seeing his blades failing to hit Ren, Jubei used his hind leg to kick Ren in the shin. With Ren kneeling forward from the blow, Jubei went for a kick towards Ren's chest; Ren flipped back to avoid Jubei's thrust kick. Despite Ren being far younger and inexperienced, Jubei was impressed with how well Ren was able to keep up with him.

"Not bad, kid," said Jubei. "You almost remind me of myself many years ago."

"Thank you," said Ren. "I've been strictly training myself since I was a child."

"But you've got a long way to go before you're on my level!"

Jubei swung with one of his katanas which Ren blocked again, but as his hand reached over to grab his other katana, Jubei instead sprouted giant claws from out of the slits of his sleeve and slashed at Ren. Caught off guard by Jubei's secondary weapon, Ren was slashed across his arm, taking a good bit of his aura away. Having his guard broken for just a moment, Jubei kept slashing at Ren with his claws, going at such speed that Ren was easily overpowered. Jubei finished off Ren by using his claws to knock Ren into the air and then slashing him back down. The fight had just started but Ren felt like he had just fought off several Grimm at once. Not wanting to risk Ren getting knocked out so early in the fight, Jaune ran over and stood in front of Ren to guard him.

"Get back, Ren!" said Jaune. "I'll handle this!"

"You sure you can handle him, Jaune?" asked Ren.

"Honestly? Probably not, but you need time to recover!"

"Just don't get yourself knocked out for my sake."

As Ren was backing away from the fight, Jubei glanced back at Naoto to make sure Naoto was ready to act when the time was right. Naoto nodded, ready to jump in once Jubei gave the signal. Jubei turned back to see Jaune hold up his shield and his knees shaking.

"You look like you want to give up before you even try," said Jubei.

"Then you need to take off that eyepatch and take a better look!" replied Jaune.

"At least you're decent at trash talking. Okay kid, show me what you've got!"

Jaune ran at Jubei and jumped towards him with an overhead swing. Seeing such a basic attack coming, Jubei simply stepped aside as Jaune completely missed on his swing. Jaune then tried to swing towards Jubei's head, which Jubei dodged by simply bending his knees. Jaune tried for another overhead swing but was so slow compared to Jubei's speed that Jubei was able to quickly get behind Jaune to avoid his sword. Whereas Ren was focused and chose his movements carefully, Jaune was just swinging any direction he could, missing Jubei every time.

"You've got no technique, kid!" said Jubei. "You're not gonna land a hit just by swinging and hoping for the best!"

"I'll land one eventually!" said Jaune.

Eventually, in the twenty or so random swings Jaune made, he eventually was able to slash across Jubei's arm, making a slight tear in his jacket. Before Jaune could follow-up, a barrage of bullets suddenly clattered against his shield, spooking Jaune and completely throwing him off. Jaune looked over and saw Naoto had fired his revolver several times. With Jaune thrown off by Naoto's assistance, Jubei jumped several feet in the air and targeted his trajectory for his next attack. In the blink of an eye, Jubei came down on Jaune and zig-zagged all around him, slashing him with his katanas and claws. Jaune could barely tell what was happening as he was flung around and suddenly found himself landing face first onto the pavement. Jubei was disappointed to see Ren's friend not quite capable of performing even basic combat skills.

"I know it's not fair to compare a kid like you to me," said Jubei, "but you fight like someone who has only been doing this for one day."

"And so what if that's true?" replied Jaune, trying to get back up, but only managing to get on one knee.

"I guess this one's going to have to end early."

Brandishing his two katanas, Jubei dashed towards Jaune to deliver the final blow. He was within a few feet of reaching Jaune when Ren suddenly got on top of Jaune's back and used him as a springboard to leap forward at Jubei, kicking Jubei directly in the face using his aura to amplify his attack. The kick was enough to cause Jubei to stumble back, giving them the opening they needed.

"Now, Jaune!" said Ren. With Jubei dazed from Ren's kick, Jaune immediately got up and ran towards Jubei, gripping his sword with both hands and swinging down with all his strength, dealing a good hit against Jubei. Once Jubei finally shook off Ren's kick, he smiled knowing this fight still had a way to go.

"Now that's the kind of teamwork I expect from actual teammates!" exclaimed Jubei. "Hey Naoto, mind taking my place for a spell?"

"Of course," said Naoto, slowly walking towards Jaune while holding up his gun.

"I'll handle this," said Jaune, giving Ren more time to rest.

As their partners took a break, Jaune held up his shield as Naoto stopped in his tracks, keeping himself at a long distance. Jaune noticed how Naoto was trying to stand as far away from Jaune as possible.

 _"Naoto is keeping his distance from me,"_ thought Jaune. _"Must be because that gun is his only means of attack! If I can get close...no, wait, he's supposed to have a Persona as well! He must want me to get close and entrap me! Or what if he knows that I know that he knows he wants me to get close! But what if he knows that and...oh nuts to this, I'll just wing it!"_

Jaune rushed towards Naoto, who remained standing still waiting for Jaune to get close. Sure enough, as soon as Jaune was nearly a foot away from Naoto, he fell right into Naoto's trap. Naoto's Persona - a humanoid moth by the name of Sukuna-Hikona - created Hair Triggers that would explode as soon as Jaune stepped into them. Once the first explosion went off and threw Jaune off-guard, Sukuna-Hikona formed its laser blade and slashed repeatedly at a prone Jaune. Without his shield protecting him, Naoto took aim and fired several more rounds at Jaune. Thankfully Jaune's armor and aura protected him from serious harm, but still did quite a moderate amount of damage.

"You're doing great out there, Naoto!" cheered Jubei from the sidelines. "Keep it up!"

"Thank you, Jubei-san," replied Naoto as he reloaded bullets into his revolver.

While Naoto was already planning his next move, Jaune was panicking about how he was possibly going to outsmart Naoto.

 _"I can't attack up close because he can use his Persona to attack!"_ thought Jaune. _"And there's no way I can fight from a distance because he has that gun to shoot me with! I could hide behind my shield, but I can't just hide behind it the whole time! Or wait...what if I can?"_

Jaune held up his shield again, but this time ducked his head behind his shield so that nearly his entire front side was protected. As smart as Naoto was, even he was somewhat confused by what Jaune was doing.

 _"Is he trying to hide behind his shield?"_ thought Naoto. _"Standing there like that is just going to leave him open to another attack! Guess I'll get up close and-"_

Suddenly, Jaune ran towards Naoto, keeping his head down behind his shield and charging blindly. Surprised by Jaune's strange tactic, Naoto quickly had Sukuna-Hikona make another Hair Trigger and rolled out of the way as Jaune nearly collided into Naoto. The Hair Trigger went off but barely did anything to Jaune because of how much he protected himself with his shield.

"Using your best line of defense as an offensive weapon," remarked Naoto. "You truly do come up with some bizarre tactics, Jaune Arc."

"I bet even a genius like you would never have seen that coming!" said Jaune.

"I'll admit you threw me off for a second, but unfortunately, I already know what I'll do to counter you."

Whether or not Naoto did know, Jaune continued ramming towards Naoto with his shield as Naoto rolled around to avoid Jaune and get himself at the right amount of distance before putting his plan into action. Once Naoto got into the position he needed to, he set up another Hair Trigger for Jaune to run right into. As predicted, Jaune charged at Naoto again; while Jaune was protected from the waist up, there was still one part of his body Naoto had noticed remained vulnerable: His legs.

As Jaune blocked the Hair Trigger he ran into, Naoto used his legs to kick Jaune in the shins, causing Jaune to trip over. As Jaune frantically tried to get up, Sukuna-Hikona once again came out to slash away at Jaune as Naoto took aim with his gun. As soon as Jaune saw Naoto about to fire, he held up his shield to block; he expected the bullets to ricochet off his shield, but nothing seemed to happen.

 _"Did he just do that to throw me off?"_ thought Jaune. He lowered his shield to find out, only to suddenly see Jubei up close with his giant claws out and unleashing his Fissuring Slash at Jaune, who didn't have time to defend himself as Jubei knocked him back down.

Jaune was getting really frustrated that every time he was finally able to do something, he was once again outsmarted and outmatched by his opponents. Sensing Jaune getting riled up, Ren ran over to Jaune and pulled him back to placate him before Jaune made things worse.

"Hold on, Jaune," said Ren. "You need to calm down so we can think of a plan."

"How can I be calm?!" yelled Jaune. "We're on the verge of losing our Keystone and-"

"Jaune, just stop for a second and breathe."

Ren used his Semblance on Jaune to mask his negative emotions, causing Jaune to quickly calm down and clear his head so he can think of what to do next for his team.

"Thanks, Ren," said Jaune. "Okay, let's think this through; Jubei is an incredibly strong fighter, so it would likely be easier to take out Naoto first. His Persona covers him close range, and his sharpshooting covers long range."

"My weapons can do both," said Ren. "I'll handle Naoto."

"Actually, Ren...I think the both of us will! Even with that Persona of his, he can't attack both of us at the same time!"

"What did you have in mind?"

As Ren and Jaune were discussing their next plan of attack, Naoto remained where he was, as if allowing them to finish their discussion before continuing the fight.

"Their guard is down," said Jubei. "Aren't you going to attack them?"

"Not yet," said Naoto. "I've seen the way they fight. Ren will likely see me coming and counter attack, while Jaune is still well protected by his armor. It's better to wait for them to come to me rather than rush in and walk myself right into a trap."

"An excellent observation! All right, whatever they got planned, I've got your back! You just stay calm and focused!"

"Understood, Jubei-san."

Once Jaune and Ren turned their attention towards Naoto and Jubei, that's when all four knew they were ready to go all-out on each other.

"They're about to make their move!" said Naoto. "I'm counting on you, Jubei-san!"

Jaune and Ren ran towards them in different directions, going for a pincer formation. Knowing he can only focus on one of them, Naoto took aim at Ren; as soon as Jubei observed Naoto focusing on Ren, Jubei ran over to keep Jaune busy.

Ren fired several bullets at Naoto with his Storm Flowers; Naoto dodged the incoming rounds and fired back; Ren held up his arms and used his aura to absorb the hits and keep charging at Naoto. At the rate Ren was sprinting, Naoto wasn't going to have time to fire again.

 _"I can't reload fast enough. I'll have to buy time with my Persona!"_

Naoto called out Sukuna-Hikona to slash away at Ren to buy himself some time. Ren used the blades on his Storm Flowers to parry Sukuna-Hikona's strikes and got within attacking range of Naoto. Ren attempted a roundhouse kick at Naoto; Naoto blocked the attack with a kick of his own. The two of them rapidly threw kick after kick at each other, neither of them getting a clear advantage. Naoto took a few steps back and decided to put all his strength into one powerful kick. Sensing Naoto was going for a powerful blow, Ren held up his left arm and took the brunt of the kick. Despite his aura protecting him, Ren could almost feet his forearm nearly break from taking the hit.

"Did you really think blocking it was the best option?" asked Naoto.

"It was for me to do this," said Ren.

Ren focused all his aura towards his right palm and struck Naoto in the chest with a mighty palm thrust, dealing a critical blow to Naoto. Naoto felt as if he had been shot with a cannon from the force of Ren's palm as he stumbled across the ground and could barely stand up. Between blocking Naoto and striking back, Ren had used up a lot of his aura, and knew he needed to land his next attack or else it would all have gone to waste. Ren knelt to get ready for the right time to strike. Seeing the way Ren was posed, Naoto assumed he was going to run and try a jump kick much like the one he did to Jubei, so Naoto had Sukuna-Hikona set up a Hair Trigger to trap Ren.

Meanwhile, the fight between Jubei and Jaune was predictably one-sided. Knowing he couldn't land a hit on a lightning fast Jubei, Jaune simply went on the defense to stall for as long as he could as Jubei went on a relentless assault with all his blades. It was only going to be a matter of time before Jaune would have to give up, so Naoto knew this was the moment he needed to take down Ren.

 _"As soon as he sets off the Hair Trigger,"_ thought Naoto, _"I'll use Sukuna-Hikona and unleash everything I've got!"_

Once Ren saw the moment he was looking for, he charged full sprint at Naoto. Naoto waited patiently for Ren to get close and set off his trap, when suddenly, Naoto noticed Ren was about to run right past Naoto, completely avoiding the Hair Trigger. Naoto took this to mean Ren was focused on someone else, and realized he was going to try and surprise Jubei.

"Jubei-san, behind you!" yelled Naoto. Jubei turned around to see Ren heading towards him and jumping up to use his thrust kick. Jubei ducked out of the way to avoid Ren's attack, which was exactly what Ren and Jaune was hoping he would do.

As they had planned, Ren was actually running towards Jaune, who held up his shield at an angle, expecting Ren to come for him. Ren jumped towards Jaune as Jubei got out of the way, landing feet first on Jaune's shield. Using Jaune as a platform, Ren jumped off Jaune and was heading back towards Naoto. Having not expected Ren to use Jaune as someone to bounce off, Naoto didn't think of a defense in time and was struck by Ren's thrust kick with the full force of his aura, causing the detective prince to fall to the ground. Seeing his partner hurt badly, Jubei ran over to make sure Naoto was still able to go.

"You okay, Naoto?" asked Jubei.

"I'm afraid not, Jubei-san," muttered Naoto, feeling his body ache from Ren's powerful attacks. "You'll be the one fighting them solo."

 **"Looks like our detective prince isn't much of a combatant! Naoto is eliminated from the fight!"**

"All right!" said Jaune, ecstatic to see his team attack work. "It's two against one in our favor! We can do this!"

"You would think so," replied Naoto, chuckling at Jaune's assumption. "But see...the fight is now in Jubei-san's favor."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I can't quite explain it, but from what I've gathered in my observations of this world...people seem to get stronger when witnessing their partner lose in battle. It's as if some hidden power awakens when forced to fight on your own."

 _"Hidden Power?"_ thought Jaune. _"Wait...could he be referring to those times when-"_

"Pop quiz, kids!" said Jubei. "Remember that personal conversation I had with Naoto?"

"The one before the fight?" asked Jaune. "What about it?"

"Why do you think I decided to get to know him better?"

Even Jaune could tell where Jubei and Naoto's cryptic discussion was heading, as he believed he had witnessed this phenomenon several times with the strangers he met along the way.

"Wait!" said Jaune. "Does this have to do with that hidden power thing Naoto was talking about?"

"Bingo!" said Jubei. "We may have just met, but I think we've bonded just enough to tap into this hidden power going around!"

Jubei glowed with an aura that Jaune had seen several times already in the tournament, only this time it was now happening with the team he was facing down instead.

 _"Oh no!"_ thought Jaune. _"Jubei was already strong enough as is! With him using this teamwork power too-"_

Jaune didn't have time to finish his thoughts before Jubei rushed over and used his special technique, the Thousand Hands: Roaring Pillar, to slash away at Jaune. Jubei had gone so fast that Ren had no time to react and protect Jaune. While it looked like Jubei had simply ran past Jaune at the speed of light, Jaune felt like he had been slashed by several Beowolves in every direction, every inch of his body feeling as if it was cut open. Sure enough, the immense pain was enough for him to collapse, losing any strength he had to get back up.

 **"Well isn't this a familiar scene! Jaune has once again been taken down and it's up to his teammate to pull through!"**

"Not again," muttered Jaune.

"Jaune!" said Ren, quickly running over to Jaune. "Are you all right?"

"No, not really. Ren...I'm counting on you to win this for us!"

"Don't worry, Jaune," said Ren, turning his attention back to Jubei. "If this power Mister Jubei speaks of can be tapped into by anyone..."

Ren focused his mind on how much Jaune meant to him as both a friend and leader, and in no time flat, Ren tapped into this unknown power, glowing with the same aura as Jubei. Jubei smiled at seeing his temporary protege flare up to defend Jaune.

"Just as I thought!" said Jubei. "I can tell how strong your bond with your friend is just by looking at your aura right now."

"Jaune is a dear friend of mine," said Ren. "As his teammate, I will do whatever it takes to protect him."

"It's one thing to have the courage and will to do so. It's another to prove that you actually can!"

Without missing a beat, Jubei instantly got close to Ren and went for an upward swing with his katana. Ren blocked the swing with his Storm Flower, surprisingly at the same speed as Jubei. Jubei tried to swing with his other katana, only for Ren to quickly block that too.

"Looks like this power has put us on equal footing," said Ren.

"Power doesn't compensate for experience!" replied Jubei.

The two continued to fight at such speed that their movements all became a blur to Jaune and Naoto. Neither of them could figure out who was gaining the advantage over the other, or if one of them was about to forfeit at any moment. After about five seconds of the intense back and forth exchange, the two remaining fighters broke off from each other, both having to take a breather from their all-out attack.

Jaune was worried that even with Ren having that unknown power helping him, simply being even with Jubei wasn't going to lead to their win.

"C'mon Ren!" yelled Jaune. "You have to pull something new in order to beat him!"

"You're right," said Ren. "I do have to pull something."

Ren suddenly threw his guns aside and bent down, reaching for something attached to his ankle underneath his pants leg. He lifted his pants and pulled out a dagger, shaped similarly to the blades on his Storm Flowers. Jaune was shocked to see Ren pull out that weapon, remembering the story Ren had told him about the dagger belonging to his late father. He never saw Ren use that weapon before, so to see him use it for this fight truly showed how serious Ren was. Ren gripped the dagger tight in his right hand and closed his eyes, breathing slowly.

"He threw his guns aside for a different weapon?" asked Naoto. "Doesn't that give him a disadvantage?"

"Hardly," remarked Jubei. "Take another look at him. The way he holds that blade; the way he remains calm even in this dire situation he's in. This boy is going into a state of pure concentration. Whatever he has up his sleeve, he's waiting for the perfect moment to strike me down; but unless he's faster than lightning, no way he's going to outpace me!"

Jubei held out his katanas and thought very carefully about the path he was going to take towards Ren to deliver the final blow. Ren remained still as he clutched his father's dagger, eyes remaining shut as if in a trance. Everything went deathly quiet as Jubei charged in for his final attack.

When Jubei got close to Ren, he whiffed his first swing at Ren, hoping to catch Ren off guard by trying to parry a fake attack, but Ren gave no reaction to Jubei's phantom swing. Jubei immediately went for another swing, this time having the pointed tip just miss Ren's face by nearly a centimeter, but once again, Ren remained stoic and unmoving. Jubei jumped back and then thrust his blade towards Ren, and this time, he was aiming to seriously pierce Ren's chest and end this fight immediately. Jaune and Naoto held their breath, wondering if Ren knew that Jubei was not faking his final attack.

As soon as Ren sensed Jubei within enough distance, Ren opened his eyes and used his left arm to knock Jubei's katana aside, and before Jubei can try and use another weapon to slash Ren, Ren used his father's dagger to slash Jubei across the chest. Having channeled nearly all his aura into his father's blade, the slash was strong enough to cut right through Jubei's coat and stop Jubei dead in his tracks, causing Jubei to collapse to the ground.

Jubei tried to get back to his feet, but fell right back down, clearly showing how devastating of a blow Ren dealt to him.

"You got me good, kid," said Jubei. "No way I can keep fighting with an injury this bad. Looks like you get to keep your Keystone for a little bit longer."

 **"What an amazing ending to the fight! Truly the magic of friendship is a powerful one! Good job, Team Red! Keep this up and you'll be in the finals in no time!"**

With the battle over, Ren breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his father's dagger back into his ankle holster, then ran over to Jaune and lifted him back to his feet.

"Thanks, Ren!" said Jaune. "Sorry I had you do all the heavy lifting!"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Ren. "Remember when I said you had strengths in other areas? I wouldn't have been able to tap into that power without your help."

"Speaking of help, even though they just fought us, I think we should give our opponents a hand."

"Not necessary!" said Jubei, standing back up like he was perfectly okay. Naoto was also back up and feeling mostly recovered.

"You've already recovered, Mister Jubei? But that slash-"

"Barely grazed me. Anyway, thanks for your help, kids. I think I've seen what I needed to see."

"Needed to see what?"

"Thanks to this fight," said Naoto, "I think I have a better understanding of everything going on."

"Then the plan worked," said Ren.

Jaune didn't understand what was suddenly going on. Barely a minute ago Jubei and Naoto were fighting for Jaune's Keystone, and now they claimed their "plan" had worked thanks to the help of Jaune and Ren when Jaune didn't have a clue what was going on. Ren could tell by the look on Jaune's face that Jaune's head was about to explode from all the confusion.

"Allow me to explain, Jaune. Mister Jubei had us fight so we can understand more about what that voice is up to."

"Huh?" asked Jaune. "How did calling for a fight solve anything?"

"Think about it," said Jubei. "All I asked for was a match and the voice instantly made it you two against me and Naoto. Why is that?"

"Because Ren and I on the same team! I could have told you that before we fought!"

"When you came here with your friends," said Naoto, "you didn't fight each other right away?"

"No! She said we were all 'Team Red' because of our Keystone!"

Naoto took out his notebook and quickly scribbled down more notes. Jaune still felt distressed having no idea what Naoto and Jubei were planning.

"I'm sorry if I sound stupid, but...what exactly were you trying to prove?"

"Why she's having a team-based tournament pitting our worlds against each other," said Naoto. "This might sound obvious, but this 'tournament' is just a front for a bigger scheme. If this Moderator running the tournament has the power to force the people here to fight each other, why has she specifically made sure to avoid people from the same world facing each other, and why in a team setting?"

"Because she wants us to fight the people not from our world," said Ren.

"Whoever this voice is," said Jubei, "she's trying to play everyone for fools by pitting all the worlds against each other. But unless everyone here is some bloodthirsty maniac, it's hard to get people to fight each other just for the sake of it. So, for the tournament to run effectively, she needs to dangle some carrots in front of everyone involved."

"And by 'carrots,' you mean the Keystones?" asked Jaune.

"You're catching on! Now, can you figure out why she made it a team tournament as opposed to every person for themselves?"

"Um...so she can...sorry, still no idea!"

"Because being forced to fight two people at a time means you're fighting more people overtime," said Naoto. "As for making world specific teams like your Team Red...I believe she's looking for which world has the strongest participants."

"But why?" asked Jaune. "What's the whole point of this? Just for some sick amusement?"

"Well...remember when we couldn't figure out which world she came from exactly?"

Jaune recalled the conversation they had before the fight. Nobody knew where the voice came from, and now they learned she might be looking for the strongest world in this tournament. Putting two and two together, Jaune realized the implications of Naoto's theory.

"Wait," said Jaune. "Are you saying that whoever the winning team is...is the world she plans to force herself into?"

"It's only an educated guess," replied Naoto, "but I think that's exactly what she's up to. There's only one way to confirm whether I'm right or not, and that's to find the ones who know the truth behind all this."

Naoto pocketed his notebook and suddenly ran off to everyone's surprise.

"Naoto, wait!" yelled Jaune. "If what you said is true, we should stick together and help each other!"

Jaune tried to run after Naoto, but Naoto had run such a distance that Jaune knew he would never be able to catch up before losing his breath.

"Wow, he runs really fast."

"I'm afraid I have to make my leave as well," said Jubei.

"You too?! What about helping us find our friends?"

"There's a stadium looking place not far from here towards the West. It was where I and some others I was with ended up when this whole tournament thing started. I have a feeling that's where everyone is eventually going to gather."

"But where are you going?"

"I have some personal loose ends to attend to...and a couple of other things I need to figure out before it's too late. You take care of yourselves, all right?"

Jaune knew there wouldn't be a point in trying to convince Jubei to stay, so he simply nodded in response and saw Jubei run off as well.

"I'm sorry, Jaune," said Ren. "I didn't think Mister Jubei would leave us like that."

"No, it's okay," said Jaune. "The important thing is we know where we need to go, so let's not waste any more time!"

"Of course. Hopefully we run into Nora and Pyrrha on the way there."

"I feel like we're getting really close to the truth! I'm glad that detective guy was of so much help!"

"Yes," said Ren. "She certainly did shed a lot of light on the situation."

"Yeah, she...wait, 'she?'" said Jaune. "She who?"

"Naoto of course."

"Wait...Naoto was a GIRL?"

* * *

 **A/N: So, why the long sudden hiatus between chapters? To make a long rant short, the controversies with the show and RoosterTeeth and the fandom's huge negativity since Volume 5 really got to me and I lost of lot of interest in writing stories for a show and company and fandom that irked me. It also didn't help that up until the 2.0 "Next" announcement, it felt like Arc Systems didn't seem to be putting their best effort in supporting Cross Tag Battle.**

 **But I know there's at least a few people who want to see this story completed, and I don't want to leave any story unfinished, so I will try to gut my way through this and get it done.**


	6. An Unwanted Battle

_Cross Field - ?_

Jaune and Ren arrived in a location that felt like they were walking out onto a balcony. They looked around and saw other floating platforms with the same weird structure, all surrounding this gigantic building that was nearly covered in fog and didn't seem to have any identifiable entrances and exits.

"You think this might be the place Jubei was talking about?" asked Jaune.

"It's possible," said Ren. "This seems like the kind of place that would serve as the finish line."

"Now we just need to hope that Pyrrha, Nora, and the other Keystone holders arrive as well, and then we can finally find out the truth behind this tournament!"

Jaune was thanking his lucky stars that this weird and terrifying journey seemed close to the end, thanks in no small part to the duo he ended up meeting before. Thanks to Jubei and Naoto's help, he learned that this tournament was a front for a possible otherworldly invasion by the unknown Moderator, and that all the teams were being tricked to fight each other to determine who was going to be invaded. Hopefully all the other Keystone holders would arrive and put their differences aside to prevent any of them from being invaded.

"Excuse me!" shouted a nearby voice. "One of you wouldn't happen to be Jaune Arc, would you?"

Jaune and Ren turned around and saw a teenager close to their age approach them. He was wearing a school uniform like Hyde, but this one appeared to be different, and he had a katana strapped to his side. He looked and sounded friendly, but considering the people they fought along the way, Jaune and Ren kept a grip on their weapons in case this stranger tried to pull something.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "Who are you?"

"I'm Yu Narukami. I heard you were the one asking for all the Keystone holders to gather in one place."

"I was. Do you happen to know one?"

"You're looking at him," said Narukami, pulling out the yellow Keystone from his pocket.

"A yellow one!" said Jaune. "So, you're the holder from the Persona world?"

"Yes, and you're the holder from the Semblance world, correct?"

"Yeah," said Jaune, holding out his red Keystone to confirm his identity.

"Are you alone?" asked Ren.

"I had some of my friends with me," said Narukami, "but I didn't want to risk putting them in danger in case this was some kind of ambush."

"Trust me," said Jaune, "the LAST thing I want to do is to ambush or be ambushed by others!"

"That makes two of us," said Narukami, putting his Keystone away and shaking Jaune's hand. "I'm not sure how much you know, but I have a feeling the Moderator can't be trusted."

"You and me both." Jaune gave a quick explanation about everything he learned and what he had planned once all the Keystone holders arrived.

"I see," said Narukami. "Once the other Keystone holders arrive, I'll gather my friends and we'll do whatever it takes to help each other out!"

"Thanks!" said Jaune. "I already met the holder from the In-Births world, so we just need the last holder to show up and-"

"Look no further!"

The three of them turned around and saw a young man with spiky white hair and a red trench coat, carrying a greatsword almost as big as him on his back. Jaune could tell just by looking at him that he was definitely a tough guy, and his voice was anything but soft. Something about this man was putting Jaune at unease.

"Which of you is the kid I heard was trying to get all the Keystones together?" asked the stranger.

"That would be me," said Jaune. "Are you the holder from that world with the Drives?"

"World with the...well, that's one way to put it, I guess. Name's Ragna the Bloodedge."

"Ragna? YOU'RE Ragna?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Oh, no! It's just I've heard that name mentioned before and...actually, that's not important. Do you have the other Keystone?"

"That I can confirm," said Ragna, holding out his blue Keystone. Seeing the final Keystone caused Jaune to be relieved. He almost couldn't contain his excitement knowing they were getting closer to the end.

"Great!" said Jaune. "Once Hyde gets here everything can start falling into place!"

"While we wait for this Hyde kid to show up, let's save some time and hand over your Keystones."

Jaune's excitement level quickly dropped to zero upon hearing Ragna's demand. He knew there was something about Ragna that put him off, and now he knew why.

"Wait a second!" said Jaune. "That wasn't what I had in mind!"

"Then what DID you have in mind?" asked Ragna.

"Well...anything but give up my Keystone!"

"I'm not comfortable with handing over my Keystone either," said Narukami.

"What are you trying to pull, Ragna?" asked Ren, gripping his StormFlowers in case things were about to escalate.

"I'm not trying to pull anything!" said Ragna, sounding like he was already losing his patience. "I'm just making sure we don't lose the Keystones!"

"By taking them from us?" yelled Jaune.

"Listen to me! Suppose some other weirdo comes along and decides they want to fight us for the Keystones. Wouldn't it make more sense to give them to someone who has the best chance of protecting them?"

"True," said Narukami, "but I'm not sure of the extent of your power."

"I don't know either," said Jaune, "but I do know mine, and...you probably are a lot stronger."

"Not exactly striking confidence, Jaune," remarked Ren.

"That's my point!" said Ragna. "So, to prevent any of us from losing the Keystones, I'll hold on to them for now and we'll wait until Rabbit shows up to explain the next step."

"Rabbit?" said Jaune. "Who's Rabbit?"

"She's an annoying brat who just happens to know what might actually be going on."

"Wait...you wouldn't happen to be talking about Rachel, are you? Yay high, dresses like a goth, and has some weird talking animals with her?"

"Oh, you met her already?"

"Yeah...and that's why I'm NOT giving you my Keystone!" said Jaune, placing the Keystone back in his pocket.

Ragna let out a long, annoyed sigh. Of course, when Ragna tried to resolve things, Rachel frigging Alucard somehow found a way to make things worse.

"Oh, for the love of...let me guess, Rabbit tried to take your Keystone?" asked Ragna.

"Yeah!" said Jaune. "There's no way I'm giving you my Keystone if you're just going to give them to her!"

"Look, Rachel can be...okay, she IS an annoying pest, but she obviously knows something about these Keystones, and it's best we trust she knows what to do."

"No way! She nearly cost me and Hyde our chance to go home! For all I know, she could be working with that Moderator! I'm not giving you my Keystone, end of story!"

"Well...I say you don't really have much of a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"You realize that if you don't give me that Keystone willingly...I'm going to fight you for it?"

Ragna walked up to Jaune until he was just a few inches away from him. Ragna looked directly into Jaune's eyes and saw the look of fear on his face; Jaune felt like he was staring into the eyes of the grim reaper himself. He could feel his heart beating so rapidly that Jaune thought he was going to have a heart attack and drop dead right then and there.

"I can tell just by looking at you that you are nowhere near my level of strength or skill. Do you really want to risk having to fight me over that Keystone?"

"Maybe not him," said Narukami. "I on the other hand..."

Yu got between Ragna and Jaune and stared into Ragna's eyes as well. Unlike Jaune, there wasn't an ounce of fear on Yu's face, as if he was ready to start fighting Ragna right now.

"What?" said Ragna. "You're taking his side now? You think the two of you can possibly beat me?"

"Honestly, I don't know," said Narukami. "But if you try to start a fight to take our Keystones, I'm going to stand up for us!"

"That makes two of us," replied Ren, ready to fight alongside Narukami if Ragna was seriously going to start a battle. Seeing his close friend and temporary friend stand up for him, Jaune swallowed some air and stood by his allies.

"M-m-make that three!" said Jaune, obviously nervous and not as willing as the others.

"You think outnumbering me is going to get me to back down?" said Ragna. "None of you have any idea what I'm capable of!"

"Neither do you," replied Narukami. "I've faced a lot of strong enemies from my world, and even if my friends aren't here, I'm sure these two will give me the strength I need to defeat you!"

"You've got some stones, kid, I'll give you that!"

As Ragna and Narukami were arguing with each other about who was stronger, Jaune looked up and noticed something or someone dropping in from above. Upon closer inspection, Jaune was shocked to find out it was a certain hammer-wielding ginger trying to make her grand entrance. Jaune nudged Ren and pointed up to let him know their friend was about to arrive.

"How about you two?" said Ragna. "Any last words before we do this?"

"Get back!" said Jaune as he and Ren grabbed Narukami and suddenly pulled him back.

"Huh? The hell are you-"

"MAKE WAY FOR NORA!" yelled Nora, who was standing on her war hammer Magnhild and using it to propel herself onto the platform.

By the time Ragna finally turned around to see what was going on, Nora miscalculated her timing and ending crashing on top of Ragna. The others cringed at Nora making such a bad landing and were hoping neither of them were seriously hurt by it. Nora stood up and felt a bit woozy from the landing.

"Whoops!" said Nora. "Guess I've got to work on my landing skills!"

"Are you okay, miss?" asked Narukami.

"I'll be fine! Hey guys! Long time no see!"

"It's good to see you again, Nora," said Ren.

"Seriously good!" said Jaune, relieved that Nora inadvertently found a way to stop Ragna for now.

"So, who are these guys?" asked Nora. "New friends of yours?"

"Hello," said Narukami, who remarkably remained calm about Nora's entrance as if it was no big deal. "I'm Yu Narukami, from the Persona world."

"Nora Valkyrie, from the world of Remnant!" said Nora, shaking Narukami's hand. "And who was that edgy looking guy?"

"His name is Ragna the Bloodedge."

"The Bloodedge? What, so is his middle and last name 'The Bloodedge?' Or is Bloodedge some kind of nickname? Maybe I should get a nickname like that! Call me...Nora The Lightning Queen!"

"You're about to be Nora The Six Feet Under!" yelled Ragna, getting up and looking extremely pissed off.

"Calm down, Ragna-san!" said Narukami. "It was an accident!"

"Yeah buddy!" said Nora. "I didn't mean to land on you like that! Kind of miscalculated my speed there!"

"Nora, just apologize to him already!" said Jaune.

"Fine. I'm sorry for landing on top of you, Rags."

"My name is Ragna!" yelled Ragna. "And I'm not, nor will I ever be, your buddy!"

"Whoa. What crawled up your butt and died, Edgy?"

"Nora!" said Jaune. "Could you try NOT instigating a fight with him?"

"I'd listen to that idiot friend of yours," said Ragna.

"Now wait just a second there, Mr. The Bloodedge!" said Nora. "You keep disparaging my team leader, and your new name will be Ragna the Flattened!"

"I think we've all heard enough," said Ren. "We all need to take a deep breath and relax."

Using his Semblance, Ren calmed everyone's nerves by masking their negative emotions before things got out of control.

"Is everyone calm now?"

"I guess," said Ragna, not feeling much different than he normally did. "Back to what I was trying to say: It's best I hold onto the Keystones and we wait for Rachel."

"And I say we wait until Hyde shows up and we all keep our Keystones," replied Jaune.

"I agree with Jaune," said Narukami.

"Listen," said Ragna, "you kids seem nice. Nice, but also really stupid. Whoever is behind this tournament must be someone or something very powerful, and between all of us, I'm clearly the strongest person here. So, either you hand over your Keystones, or I'm going to take them from you before someone else does."

"Wait one second there, Raggy!" said Nora. "Sounds like you're trying to threaten my leader, and nobody threatens him and gets away with it!"

"Hold on, Nora!" said Jaune. "I don't think it's a good idea-"

"Ya wanna fight, Bloodedge? I'll be more than glad to break those legs of yours!"

"Bring it!" said Ragna. "I've just about lost my patience having to deal with you idiots!"

 **"Is this a Keystone battle I hear about to happen?"**

"NO!" said Jaune, hating to hear that awful voice that meant nothing but trouble awaiting them. "We are NOT FIGHTING! We're all going to talk out our problems like real grown-ups!"

"You can stand back and talk!" said Ragna. "But I've heard enough from this annoying bitch!"

"You kiss your mother with that filthy mouth?" asked Nora. "Allow me to scrub it out for ya!"

 **"Sounds like a Keystone battle to me!"**

"Well it isn't!" yelled Jaune. "Besides, Ragna doesn't have a partner, therefore it's impossible for us to fight each other!"

"Then make it two on one if you have to!" said Ragna.

 **"Sorry Ragna, but Jauney-boy is right. This fight is null and void if it's not a proper two on two match."**

"There, see?" said Jaune. "We're not fighting over the Keystones! Now that that's settled, let's-"

 **"Therefore, the match will go as follows: Ragna The Bloodedge and Yu Narukami vs. Nora Valkyrie and Jaune Arc!"**

"Wait, WHAT?!" yelled Jaune, not believing what the moderator had just set up.

"Yeah, what gives?" said Narukami, annoyed he was being dragged into this. "I have no interest in fighting either!"

 **"Sorry, but you're the only non-Team Red participant around here. Besides, we're getting REEEEEALLY close to the Finals, and we need to speed things along to determine a winner here!"**

"And if I refuse?" asked Narukami.

 **"You'll be penalized, and trust me, you don't want to see what happens when you get** _ **penalized.**_ **"**

Narukami was frustrated that he was being forced to fight in a match against someone he didn't want to harm, and even worse teaming up with a man who didn't seem interested in cooperating, but Narukami couldn't jeopardize his team's chances of not being able to get home. As much as he didn't want to, Narukami had to accept having to team up with Ragna to take down Jaune and Nora.

"I guess we're partners, Ragna-san," said Narukami.

"I don't really need your help at all," replied Ragna. "So just stay out of the way while I deal with these clowns!"

"Ragna-san, I hope you realize that if you lose, I potentially lose my Keystone as well."

"Then it's a good thing that's not going to happen! Now, which of you idiots wants to be the first one I take down?"

"It's Nora Time!" yelled Nora, holding up her hammer and rearing to go, until Jaune suddenly stepped in front of her.

"Hold on, Nora!" said Jaune. "I'll go first!"

"But Jaune! You heard what he called me! Let me have the first crack at him!"

"Trust me Nora, it's better that I go first!"

"Well...you are the team leader," said Nora, standing back and allowing Jaune to fight first.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Jaune?" asked Ren.

"Trust me guys!" said Jaune. "I've got the perfect plan for this!"

"When did you suddenly find the stones to step up and fight, kid?" asked Ragna.

"Because I've had it with people like you trying to start fights to take my Keystone! I'm going to end this fight the only way I know how!"

 **"Now we've got ourselves a match of the ages! Three Keystones up for grabs in one fight! This match could ultimately determine the winner of the entire tournament! The excitement is through the roof!"**

"Hurry up and let's get started!" yelled Ragna.

 **"Okay, okay! Annnnd...FIGHT!"**

As soon as the Moderator called for the fight to begin, Jaune quickly sheathed his sword and sat down on the ground, crossing his arms and legs as if refusing to budge. Everyone was confused as to what Jaune was doing.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?!" asked Ragna.

"Like I said!" said Jaune. "I'm ending this fight my way: Sitting here until the time officially expires and we end in a draw!"

"Until time expires? Kid...are you on drugs or something? This is a fight for our lives! There isn't a time limit to this!"

"Of course, there is! Moderator, tell him about the time limit!"

 **"Time limit? Oh...right, the time limit! Yeah, these fights are timed! So, I wouldn't waste any of it-"**

"What?!" yelled Ragna. "Why didn't you tell me there was time limits to these fights?"

 **"Well, uh...I mean, you were just so strong, and you finished your fights so quickly, I didn't think it would matter!"**

"See?" said Jaune. "And in a draw, nobody wins! If nobody wins, nobody takes the other's Keystone!"

"Huh," said Narukami. "That's...actually a great point."

"Using a loophole in the rules," said Ren. "Clever thinking, Jaune."

"Great plan, Jaune!" cheered Nora. "That's why you're the team leader!"

"Well, Ragna?" asked Jaune. "What will you do now?"

"In that case...I'll wait as well!" said Ragna, taking a seat just like Jaune. "We'll all just sit here and end this in a draw!"

 **"Yeah...I should have also mentioned...a draw means that both of you lose, and therefore you lose your Keystones."**

"WHAT?!" said Jaune. "But that's not how draws work!"

 **"Maybe in the tournaments you participate in, but with accordance to the Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Rules, in the rare case of a draw, both teams will be considered losers and forfeit any Keystones in their possession!"**

"I don't remember you telling us that rule!" said Nora.

"That's because she never told us to begin with," replied Ren.

"So, one of us really is going to lose our Keystone?" said Narukami.

"I guess so," said Ragna, standing back up. "That means I don't have a choice."

"Wait!" said Jaune. "There has to be another way out of this!"

"Sorry kid, but I'm taking your Keystone. Nothing personal."

While Jaune was trying to come up with something to convince Ragna not to fight, Ragna was grabbing the hilt of his Aramasa and charged towards Jaune. Before Ragna could take the first swing on Jaune, Nora suddenly jumped in front of Jaune and swung her hammer down in front of Ragna, stopping Ragna in his tracks.

"I don't think so, Edgeblood!" said Nora, holding her hammer up, ready to strike again. "You'll be taking his Keystone over my dead body!"

"If you insist!" replied Ragna.

Nora lifted her Magnhild high and swung down on Ragna; Ragna easily blocked the swing with the blade of his Aramasa. Ragna countered with a swing of his own, only for Nora to deflect the blow with her hammer. With Ragna able to block all of Nora's swings, Nora jumped back and switched her Magnhild into its grenade launcher mode and fired several grenades at Ragna; Ragna held up his sword to block the impact of the grenades. With Ragna on the defensive, Nora quickly switched back to hammer mode and launched herself high into the air, aiming to take down Ragna with one giant swing.

Unfortunately, Nora didn't count on Ragna's weapon also having a second mode. With Nora leaving herself wide open in the air, Ragna switched his Aramasa into its scythe form and jumped towards Nora, slashing her down to the ground with his Blood Scythe technique. While Nora tried to get up, Ragna ran in and threw a straight left punch at Nora, his arm covered in a menacing dark aura, and then struck Nora with more of this strange aura he was able to summon at will. Nora went for another desperate overhead swing, only to miss Ragna completely, leaving herself open to another barrage of his physical attacks. With or without the use of his sword, Ragna was constantly one-upping Nora on the offensive, and didn't show any signs of getting tired.

 _"How does he keep going without losing any stamina?"_ thought Jaune. _"It's like he's got an unlimited amount!"_

As Ragna continued to beat down Nora, Jaune noticed Nora rapidly getting exhausted, and looked to get worse every time Ragna struck her with that demonic aura that seemed to envelop him.

 _"Or maybe...he's draining it from Nora!"_

If Ragna was in fact replenishing his own health by attacking Nora, Jaune needed to step in and stop Ragna from completely draining Nora or else his team's chances of winning would be zilch. With Nora down on the ground and barely able to get up, Ragna stepped back several feet and unleashed his Dead Spike to finish off Nora. Jaune quickly crouched in front of Nora and used his shield to block the Dead Spike.

"You okay, Nora?" asked Jaune.

"Sure!" said Nora, throwing a weak thumbs up. "I mean, I can't feel my legs right now, but I'm good!"

"Stay back for now! Ren, make sure she doesn't faint on us!"

"But Jaune, you can't-"

Before Nora can protest, Jaune stood up and walked towards Ragna. Ren tried to step in and pick up Nora to move her to safety, only to have the Moderator interrupt.

 **"Hold it right there! Interfere in this match in any way and I'll have your team disqualified!"**

"It's okay, Ren!" said Nora. "I'll just get up and..."

Nora tried to stand up again, but her aura was too low for her to do so. Without any way to help his teammates, Ren was forced to stand back and hope Jaune would figure out a way to turn the tide in their favor, which by the way Jaune was only using his shield to block Ragna's offense, didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon.

"Just give up, kid!" said Ragna as he continually swung his Aramasa at Jaune. "You're not in my league!"

"I don't care how much stronger you are!" said Jaune, doing everything he can to block Ragna's offense. "I'm never giving up my Keystone!"

"For someone who doesn't want to give up their Keystone, you've done nothing but hide behind that shield of yours!"

"It's part of my strategy!" replied Jaune. Jaune's "strategy" was to just defend against Ragna, hoping to counter Ragna's ability to drain aura with his Semblance's apparent ability to rapidly regenerate his aura, even if Jaune still had no idea how to activate it himself.

 **"I'd hurry up and fight back, Jauney-boy! You can't keep stalling forever!"**

"If I wanted your advice, I'd ask for it!" replied Jaune as he blocked another one of Ragna's swings.

"Here's my advice, kid," said Ragna, applying more pressure to his sword to push Jaune off his feet. "Admit you don't stand a chance and hand over your Keystone, and that way you can spare yourself looking like an idiot and needing a trip to the hospital."

"I'd rather end up in the hospital than ever give up my Keystone to you!"

Jaune pushed Ragna back with his shield, then unsheathed his sword and swung wildly at Ragna. Ragna simply held up his sword and blocked Jaune's swings, which barely did anything to Ragna or his weapon.

"Nice try," said Ragna. "My turn!"

Ragna swung his sword upwards and knocked Jaune into the air, then jumped up and send Jaune crashing back down with a roundhouse kick. Before Jaune can defend himself, Ragna already charged forward and nailed Jaune with his Carnage Scissors, draining a large chunk of Jaune's aura. Seeing Jaune in danger, Nora fully loaded her grenade launcher and got ready to fire. Ragna went over to the fallen Jaune and grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie, aiming his sword at point blank range towards Jaune's head.

"Any last words before I put an end to this?" asked Ragna.

"Eat this, Raggy!" shouted Nora, firing all her grenades at once at Ragna. Ragna tossed Jaune aside and held up his sword to defend himself from the big explosion of Nora's grenades. Nora's tactic was enough to momentarily stop Ragna, giving Nora and Jaune some time - albeit very limited - to catch their breath.

"These kids are like cockroaches!" said Ragna. "Just how much punishment can these idiots take?"

"Perhaps it's time I tag in!" said Narukami. "You could use a bit of rest, Ragna-san!"

Just as Narukami was about to step into battle, Ragna suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back.

"If I wanted your help, I'd ask for it!" said Ragna. "So keep standing back while I take out this nuisance!"

"But Ragna-san, if we work together, we can-"

"Save your friendship speeches for someone who gives a damn!"

While Ragna was bickering with his reluctant partner, Team JNPR were trying to figure out how they were going to get out of this mess they were in.

"Ren, I need you to do me an important favor," said Jaune.

"What is it?" asked Ren.

"As soon as this battle ends...try to take our Keystone and run."

"What are you saying, Jaune?" asked Nora. "You make it sound like we're going to lose!"

"Just look at us! Ragna is taking both of us out by himself, and who knows just how strong Narukami is. I...I don't think we can win!"

"Not to worry!" said Nora. "I'm up and ready to-" Nora tried to stand up again, only to fall to her knees.

"Think, Jaune!" said Ren. "There has to be some other way we can defeat them!"

 _"But what can we do?"_ thought Jaune. _"Ragna has no weaknesses! He's far too strong! Neither of us have the strength to possibly..."_

That's when Jaune suddenly realized there was still one trick they haven't tried. A trick that saved Jaune's behind in all his previous fights against opponents far stronger than him.

"Hey Ren...remember that special power Jubei told us about?"

"Special power?" asked Nora. "What special power?"

"Wait a second, Jaune," said Ren. "You're not going to-"

Before Ren finished, Jaune was already back on his feet and charging towards Ragna. Seeing Jaune approach, Ragna pushed Narukami aside and knocked Jaune down easily with another roundhouse kick. No matter how Jaune fought back, Ragna simply took him down with one technique after another without mercy, all while still draining Jaune's health away to increase his own. Ren knew what Jaune was up to; he was going to sacrifice himself in battle and hope Nora tapped into that strange power that seemed to originate from this world.

By the time Ragna was done decimating Jaune, Jaune had collapsed to the ground, barely able to move a muscle. Despite the immense amount of pain Jaune was in, it was all going to be worth it if his plan worked.

"I have to say kid," said Ragna, "it took a lot of guts to try and fight back the way you did." Ragna picked Jaune up by his collar and brought him back to his feet. "But unfortunately for you, there's a difference between being brave and being stupid."

 **"Wow, talk about a one-sided affair! Jaune is pretty much done for!"**

With Jaune taken out of the fight, Ragna tossed Jaune back to his teammates like a sack of garbage. As rambunctious as Nora was, she rarely ever lost her cool even in the most dire of situations. But to see Ragna toss Jaune aside so irrespectively had really set her off.

"You've really done it now, Bloodedge!" said Nora as she got back to her feet, her legs still feeling wobbly. "Now you've gone and made me mad!"

"So, what are you going to do about it?" asked Ragna.

"What am I going to do? Simple: I'm going to BREAK YOUR LEGS!"

Nora was suddenly bursting with a bright blue aura, exactly as Jaune was hoping would happen. Despite Nora gaining her second wind, Ragna wasn't impressed.

"Come and get it, you annoying shit!" said Ragna.

Nora leapt towards Ragna and smashed the ground with her hammer, breaking apart a huge chunk of the ground, causing Ragna to stumble back. As Ragna stumbled, Nora went for a giant sideways swing. Ragna was readying himself to block and then counter attack when Nora's blow was suddenly a lot stronger than he had anticipated, causing Ragna to nearly fall over. Nora went for another overhead swing, causing Ragna to have to jump out of the way as Nora created a sizable crater where Ragna once stood.

 _"What the hell?"_ thought Ragna. _"Where did this surge of strength suddenly come from?!"_

Nora's flaring aura wasn't just for show; somehow, she was suddenly almost strong enough to give Ragna a run for his money.

 _"I don't know how the hell she got this strong, but it looks like I'm going to have to unleash the azure to get this over with!"_

As Ragna was looking for the right moment to unleash what he was truly capable of, Narukami was getting worried that Ragna would be outmatched. As much as Ragna insisted Narukami not interfere, he needed to save his reluctant partner.

 _"If I can get Izanagi to attack at the right time,"_ thought Narukami, _"it should give Ragna the opening he needs to fight back!"_

Narukami watched closely as Ragna and Nora continued to clash weapons against each other. Ragna turned his Aramasa into a scythe and leapt towards Nora; Nora dodged the scythe and swung her hammer upwards, knocking Ragna into the air. Once Ragna landed on the ground, Nora launched herself into the air and went for one mighty swing with everything she had, hoping it would be enough to knock out Ragna. The few seconds Nora took to use her attack was the moment Narukami needed.

"Now, Izanagi!" commanded Narukami, summoning his Persona to battle. Just before Nora can land her knockout blow on Ragna, Izanagi shot a stream of electricity at Nora, stopping her from reaching Ragna and pushing her far back. As relieved as Narukami was that he stopped Nora, Ragna was pissed off from having to be assisted.

"What did I tell you about not needing your help?!" yelled Ragna.

"I'm sorry Ragna-san," said Narukami, "but you looked like you were in trouble and I couldn't risk having us lose!"

"Let me make this clear so that even a naive kid like you can understand: There is no way that I would ever need help to defeat some hyperactive, half-brained-"

"NORA SMASH!"

Ragna turned around to suddenly see an overcharged Nora take a big upward swing and knock Ragna off the platform they were standing on, sending Ragna flying off to the distance, presumedly plummeting to who knows what lying below.

 **"I don't think he's coming back! Guess it's down to just you two!"**

"Looks like it," said Narukami, remaining stoic and calm. "How come you weren't affected by Izanagi's attack?"

"It's thanks to my Semblance!" said Nora, flexing her muscle. "Electricity literally recharges me! They don't call me Nora the Lightning Queen for nothing!"

"Oh. I guess I didn't help Ragna-san after all. I'll have to apologize when I get the chance."

"Now that Edgeman is out of the way, it's down to you and me!" Nora held up her hammer, ready to get the final round of the battle started.

"Listen," said Narukami as he pulled out his katana. "I know how important it is for you to protect your friends, but I have friends to protect as well, and for their sake, I have to win!"

Hearing Narukami mention his friends, Nora suddenly felt guilty about having to fight. She had no problem going up against Ragna for all the trash talking he was spouting, but Narukami had been polite the entire time and had objected to wanting this battle to occur.

"To be honest," said Nora as she placed her hammer down, "I just wanted to fight that Blood jerk. Sorry you had to get caught up in this."

"Don't worry," replied Narukami. "That Moderator was the one who dragged us into this fight. Let's promise that no matter who wins, we'll figure out a way all of us can still go home."

"It's a promise!"

Narukami and Nora shook hands, then got their weapons ready for battle; Jaune sat up to get a better view of the fight. Narukami held his sword high ready to strike; Nora held up her hammer to block, only for Narukami to duck and slash at Nora's legs instead, then slashed upwards to do more damage. With Nora caught off guard, Narukami jumped and dove towards Nora with his katana; Nora dodged to the side and went for an overhead swing; Izanagi suddenly appeared and blocked Nora's hammer, allowing Narukami to stand up and kick Nora back. With Narukami having his Persona by his side, even if they couldn't utilize their electric attacks, Nora was essentially going to fight two people at once, and with the power boost used against Ragna long since faded, she had to rely on whatever aura she had left to survive.

Narukami and Izanagi attacked Nora at the same time, slashing away at Nora with their combined strength; Nora could barely get any offense in, having to use her hammer to block their constant barrage of attacks. Unable to focus on who to fight, Nora switched to her grenade launcher and fired whatever grenades she had left at them. While Narukami was blinded by the smoke, Nora aimed her next swing at Narukami; Izanagi stepped in and blocked Nora's swing, then pushed Nora back. The two traded blows back and forth with their weapons, appearing to be evenly matched.

 _"This isn't good!"_ thought Jaune. _"If Nora doesn't find a way to get past his Persona, we're done for!"_

Jaune kept watching Nora fending off Izanagi while keeping an eye on Narukami, waiting for the moment he would jump in and attack Nora. As he was watching, Jaune noticed anytime Nora landed a blow on Izanagi, Narukami flinched as if he was hurt as well.

 _"Does hurting Izanagi hurt Narukami as well? I wonder..."_

"Nora!" said Jaune. "Just focus on fighting his Persona!"

"Just his Persona?" asked Nora.

"His Persona's a part of him! Damage it and you damage him!"

"If you say so!" replied Nora, concentrating solely on Izanagi. Realizing Jaune had figured out his connection to his Persona, Narukami jumped back into the fight and double teamed with Izanagi once again. This time instead of trying to fight off both, Nora concentrated all her attacks on Izanagi; every time Nora landed a hit, Narukami felt the same kind of pain. As Izanagi thrust his blade towards Nora, Nora jumped up and swung down on Izanagi, bonking the Persona on top of his head, resulting in Narukami feeling very woozy.

Izanagi faded away as Narukami fell to one knee and catching his breath. With Narukami left wide open, Nora held her hammer up to deliver the finishing blow. Seeing Narukami prone however, Nora felt her heart sink into her stomach and was having second thoughts about ending this fight.

"Nora?" said Jaune. "Is something wrong?"

"I know we need to win," said Nora, "but...I feel like we're the bad guys here!"

"You heard what that Moderator said! If we end this in a draw, then we all end up losing!"

"I know, but..."

As Nora was contemplating about what to do, Narukami stood back up. Jaune was worried that Narukami was going to take advantage of Nora's hesitation; instead, Narukami simply sheathed his katana.

"There's no point in keeping this fight going," said Narukami. "Without being able to use Izanagi to his full potential, there's no way I can win."

"Wait, Narukami!" said Jaune. "If you forfeit, that means you-"

"I know. Jaune-san, if it's you and your friends that ultimately end up with the Keystones...I trust you'll find the solution to get us all back home."

 **"Well, that sounds like a forfeit to me! Therefore, the winners are Nora and Jaune! Congratulations Team Red! You're so close to reaching the finish-"**

"HOLD ON!" yelled a familiar angry voice. Everyone turned to see Ragna make his return to the battle.

"Ragna-san, you're okay!" said Narukami. "Unfortunately, we've lost the-"

"Like hell we did!" yelled Ragna. "This fight is far from over!"

 **"Ooooh...this is awkward. See, I didn't think you'd come back in time, nor be in any capacity to fight-"**

"But I did, and I am! And if these idiots are going to get in my way, then it's time I stop holding back!"

Ragna held up his right hand as the symbol on his hand opened, releasing a black and powerful aura that quickly surrounded him.

"Restriction 666 released!" said Ragna. "Dimensional interference field deployed!"

"Guys?" said Jaune, shaking in fear. "I don't like where this is going!"

"I guess we're gonna keep fighting!" said Nora, holding up her hammer and anticipating what Ragna was about to do.

Everyone could sense Ragna powering up to levels none of them could comprehend. While Nora was excited to see how strong Ragna really was, Jaune was internally freaking out that this was truly going to be the end.

 _"This can't be happening!"_ thought Jaune. _"Did we really come so far only to end up losing our Keystone this way?! Even if my Semblance suddenly activated, there's no way we can survive this! I knew it was a mistake that I was ever the leader! Ren...Nora...Pyrrha...everyone...I'm so sorry!"_

"BLAZBLUE, ACTIVATE!" yelled Ragna. Jaune closed his eyes and hid behind his shield, fearing what unfathomable strength Ragna was going to unleash on all of them, and if they were going to be lucky enough to survive.

Several seconds passed by, and nothing appeared to have happened. Jaune opened his eyes wondering if it went by so fast that they were all suddenly in the afterlife. He put down his shield and looked around; shockingly, everyone else was standing around wondering the same thing.

"What the hell?" said Ragna.

"Ragna-san, is something wrong?" asked Narukami.

"Something is preventing me from activating the BlazBlue!"

 **"Sorry but trying to use something THAT powerful after the fight is a clear violation of the rules! I can't allow it!"**

"Rules, scmules!" said Nora. "The man wants to fight, let him fight! I wanna see what this Blue Blazing thing is!"

"Don't give her any ideas, Nora!" said Jaune.

"Not to sound like a sore loser," said Narukami, "but this does seem unfair to us."

 **"Them's the breaks I'm afraid! Team Red won fair and square, and it wouldn't be right for you to just annihilate them and steal their Keystone right after they defended it! I'm just trying to keep things on the level!"**

Rather than lose his cool and go on a profanity laced tirade, Ragna started to chuckle, which caused even more worry amongst everyone else than if he had gone on an angry rant.

"It's just as I thought," said Ragna.

 **"Got something on your mind, Ragna?"**

"This tournament, these rules...it's all BULLSHIT! You're just making it all up as you go along! And when a fight doesn't go the way you were hoping, you rig it for the people you want to see win!"

"I think Ragna-san could be on to something!" said Narukami. "If she's really planning to invade one of our worlds, it would make sense that she would try rigging the tournament in favor of certain teams!"

"Wait a second!" said Jaune. "Does this mean this Moderator has actually been helping us the whole time?"

 **"WHAAAT? Don't be ridiculous! Don't listen to them, Jauney-boy! Seriously, invading worlds and rigging the fights? Those two are just sore losers who can't get over being defeated by a superior team!"**

"You expect me to believe you now? You never even told me why you forced my team to come here! You've just been putting everyone in random fights against their will!"

 **"Man, Jauney-boy! You are like the whiniest winner I've ever seen! If you feel THAT bad for them, how about you just forfeit the entire tournament? I'm sure your friends will TOTALLY like that idea!"**

"You don't scare me, random unknown voice lady!" said Nora. "We're calling your bluff, right Jaune?"

Nora turned to Jaune hoping he would stand up to the omnipresent being, but instead Jaune gritted his teeth and looked down, as if he was admitting defeat.

"C'mon Jaune! You don't really believe her...do you?"

"But...what if she ISN'T lying this time?" asked Jaune. "I...I can't risk causing us to lose!"

"Don't back down now, Jaune! Tell him, Ren!"

"It's all right, Jaune!" said Ren. "We know this tournament is a farce! Whatever you decide, we have your back!"

"I'm...I'm sorry!" said Jaune. "I can't do it!"

Narukami gripped his sword as the rage started boiling inside him. Narukami knew all too well about the importance of having friends and having to will to protect them above all else, and to see Jaune forced into this position was setting him off.

"This is disgusting!" yelled Narukami. "Manipulating us through our friends? You're nothing but a coward, Moderator!"

 **"Watch your tongue, Persona boy! My patience is wearing thin and I'm in the mood to start trimming the fat from this tournament! So, unless you don't really care about winning for the sake of your friends-"**

"Enough of this!" interrupted Ragna. "If you're so great and powerful, come out and face me yourself!"

"I'm with Ragna-san!" said Narukami. "We're done participating in your games! Show yourself!"

"Yeah!" shouted Nora. "Come out and fight us, Mod lady! Unless you know how much I'd kick your butt!"

 **"I don't have to comply with any of your demands! I'M the one running the tournament here, and what I say goes! Now, unless all of you want to be disqualified and say goodbye to everyone back home, I better see some humility and apologizing RIGHT NOW!"**

"You won't face us in person?" said Ragna. "Then maybe I need to lure you out!"

Ragna reached into his pocket and held out his blue Keystone.

 **"Whoa whoa whoa! What are you doing with that Keystone?!"**

"To hell with this tournament and these God damn Keystones!"

Ragna threw his Keystone up in the air, then turned his Aramasa into a scythe, aiming to destroy his Keystone. The moment the tip of his scythe was about to hit the Keystone, Ragna suddenly disappeared in a flash, causing the Keystone to fall back to the ground unharmed. Everyone was shocked to see Ragna instantly vanish without a trace.

"What just happened?" asked Jaune. "Where's Ragna?"

 **"I sent him far away enough so that he isn't going to come back a second time! THAT is what happens you decide to no longer follow the rules! And just to make myself perfectly clear..."**

"My body!" said Narukami, clutching his chest. "I feel like I'm-"

Narukami couldn't finish as he suddenly disappeared as well, leaving the yellow Keystone he was holding behind as well.

"Hey!" yelled Jaune. "He didn't do anything!"

 **"But considering how he mouthed off to me about no longer wanting to participate, I couldn't risk another rule breaker on our hands! Let that be a pre-emptive warning to the rest of you!"**

There was so much Jaune wanted to say to the Moderator right now about how much he hated her for everything he forced his team to go through, and the punishment she inflicted on everybody else who were all just trying to protect their friends. But he also knew that talking back could cause Jaune's team to suffer the same fate as Ragna and Narukami, and he could never forgive himself if his closest friends suffered for his mistakes; he could barely forgive himself for what had just happened to begin with.

Jaune fell to his hands and knees and began to cry, knowing his grand plan had backfired horribly.

"Guys, I'm so sorry!" cried Jaune. "This is all my fault!"

"There was nothing more you could have done, Jaune," said Ren.

"On the bright side," said Nora, "we've got three Keystones. We're almost home free, right?"

"Are we?" said Jaune. "I'm not even sure anymore!"

"What's done is done," said Ren. "The only thing we can do now is wait for Hyde to bring us his Keystone. I'm sure there's still a way to resolve all this."

"And what if there isn't? What if I just did what I promised wouldn't happen? What if I just caused everyone's chances to get home safely? It's all because of me!"

Jaune furiously punched the ground, hating himself and wishing for this nightmare to soon come to an end.


	7. All Together Now

Jaune felt sick to his stomach. Just when he thought everything was coming together the way it should have, it all quickly fell apart. Thanks to the Moderator bending the rules as she saw fit, Ragna and Narukami had lost their Keystones, possibly ending their chances of protecting their friends and getting back to their home worlds. Thinking back to the friendly people he met over this tournament, he felt as if he was personally responsible for letting them all down.

"Jaune! Over here!" Team JNPR saw Hyde and Linne run up to them.

"Are you the other Keystone holder?" asked Ren.

"Yeah," said Hyde. "I'm Hyde, and this is my partner Linne. You two Jaune's friends?"

"Yeah," said Ren. "I'm Ren, and she's Nora."

"Pleasure to meet ya!" said Nora. Nora reached out for a handshake, but Hyde was too distracted by Jaune groveling on the ground.

"What's wrong, Jaune?" asked Hyde. "Are you all right?"

"Anything but," replied Jaune.

"Did something happen before we arrived? Wait...don't tell me you lost your Keystone!"

"No. In fact..."

Jaune stood up and held out the three Keystones in his possession. Hyde knew the red one belonged to Jaune but was perplexed as to why Jaune was holding the two others from the different worlds.

"How did you get those other Keystones?" asked Hyde.

"Well, long story short...I had to fight the ones holding them."

"What?! But your plan was-"

"I know, okay?!" yelled Jaune. "But I had to make sure I didn't lose my Keystone!"

"Besides," said Nora, "it was The Bloodedge's fault we wound up fighting each other!"

"You did kind of take his insults too seriously, Nora," replied Ren.

Linne pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed angrily. It amazed and angered her that somehow these people were able to take a simple task like "don't fight each other" and somehow mess it up.

"This is why I hate working with children," said Linne.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Nora.

"Long story. While this isn't the most ideal of outcomes, the important thing now is we have all the Keystones. Now we just have to figure out how we use these to get home."

"Hold on!" said Jaune. "Before I overheard you planning on taking the other Keystones!"

"Seriously, Jaune?!" said Hyde. "I thought we had a deal to trust each other!"

"We also had a deal about what would happen if this alliance idea didn't work out!"

"Calm your nerves, kid," said Linne. "I'll admit that was initially my plan, but I've made a deal with your friend that we would all work together."

"Thanks, I...wait, did you call me kid?"

"Friend?" asked Ren. "Which friend are you referring to?"

"Hello again!" said a soothing, angelic voice. Team JNPR looked past Linne and Hyde to see their last teammate Pyrrha Nikos finally complete their reunion. As soon as he saw Pyrrha, Jaune ran over and hugged her, sobbing on her shoulder.

"Pyrrha!" said Jaune. "Thank God you're here!"

"Sounds like you've been through quite a lot, Jaune," said Pyrrha.

"You don't know the half of it!"

"When she told us about your situation," said Linne, "I decided it wasn't worth trying to fight you for the Keystone. Besides, I have a strange feeling whoever is behind this wants us to fight each other, so we should be doing anything but."

"It's worse than you think," said Ren.

Ren explained the situation to Linne about how the Moderator was using the tournament to select what world she would invade, and how the last fight made it seem like it was Team Red's world in jeopardy.

"I see," said Linne. "Considering that Moderator loves keeping secrets, I doubt there's anything we can do to force her to start talking."

"Great," said Hyde. "It looks like we've hit a dead end. What are we going to do now?"

"The only thing I can think of is find more help," said Ren. "That is, if there's anyone left to turn to."

"What about Mister Jubei?" asked Jaune. "I'm sure he can help us!"

"I'm sure there are still some trustworthy allies out there," said Pyrrha. "I say we search them out!"

"No," said Linne. "Searching for more people who barely have a clue as to what's going on isn't going to help us."

"And I suppose you have a better idea, little girl?" asked Nora.

"I do. There's one person out there who knows the truth, and we're going to hunt her down."

"Let me guess," said Hyde. "By 'her', you mean Rachel Alucard?"

"Precisely."

"How do you propose we do this?" asked Ren. "Split up and spread out, or stick together?"

"Allow me to spare you some time!" said a familiar posh voice.

Everyone looked up to see Rachel Alucard suddenly make her presence in front of the group. Jaune and Hyde were enraged just by even looking at her.

"To think that Ragna failed and you succeeded," said Rachel. "Perhaps you are not such a useless fool after all."

"Enough!" yelled Jaune. "Tell us what you know about everything!"

"And what makes you think that I'll-"

Before Rachel can finish, Linne was suddenly able to get behind Rachel and hold her small dagger next to Rachel's throat with lightning fast speed. Team JNPR was surprised to see Linne able to go at such speed. Despite having a weapon drawn on her, Rachel remained calm and stoic.

"You're quite resilient for such a young girl," said Rachel. "Then again, I guess 'young' isn't the right term for you and me, is it?"

"Cut the act," said Linne. "Start talking. Now!"

"You know, I can have that Moderator called out to start a Keystone battle. Are you sure you-?"

Linne pressed her blade against Rachel's throat, shocking everyone by how far Linne was willing to go to get info.

"If I even sense you do that," said Linne, "you die."

"Very well," replied Rachel, but not sounding the least bit intimidated by Linne's threats. "What is it you wish to know?"

"Tell us how to use the Keystones to get home!" said Jaune.

"I'm afraid the only one who can use those Keystones properly is me."

"You better not be lying," replied Linne.

"If you think I'm lying, then go ahead and try to kill me."

"Then answer this one: Who is the Moderator, and what is she planning to do?"

"The Moderator plans to invade our worlds and conquer them one by one. As for who she really is..."

Just as Rachel was about to give them some answers, another strange girl suddenly appeared behind Linne. This one was wearing a blue dress and carrying a giant sword that had to be at least twice as big as her.

"I'm afraid I don't have time to explain."

"Linne, behind you!" yelled Hyde.

Linne quickly let go of Rachel and jumped out of the way as the girl with the strange sword attempted to slash Linne.

"I have arrived, Rachel Alucard," said the strange girl.

"Perfect timing, Es," said Rachel.

"Looks like she's brought back up," said Hyde.

"Figures she still had tricks up her sleeve," said Linne. "I take it you're going to fight us for those Keystones?"

"That won't be necessary," said Rachel. "Es, the blonde ones over there have all four of the Keystones. You know what to do."

"Confirmed," replied Es. "Commencing capture of high-priority targets."

Before they knew it, Es suddenly teleported herself next to Hyde and Jaune. Seeing their partners in danger, Linne pushed Hyde out of the way as hard as she could while Pyrrha jumped in front of Jaune with her shield. Es activated her teleportation ability, taking two of the fighters with her.

#

 _Forbidden Gate - ?_

Jaune suddenly felt his body being teleported to another location. Jaune looked around and could barely comprehend where he was. It looked like he was in the sky, literally standing on clouds as a giant gate loomed over him.

"Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha, running over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I think so?" said Jaune. "Wait...where are the others?"

"It looks like we were the only two taken here."

"Great. Could this possibly get any worse?"

Before Pyrrha could reply, they were once again greeted by the mysterious Es.

"Jaune Arc," said Es, "you are currently in possession of three of the Keystones. Hand over the Keystones or force will be used."

"Not this again!" said Jaune. "So, it's another fight, huh? Let's get this over with!"

"But Jaune," said Pyrrha, "we can't-"

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha! I know we shouldn't be fighting, but do you really think she's going to listen? Between Rachel and Ragna and everyone else that have tried to take the Keystones, there's no way out of this except to fight! Time to team up and protect the Keystones!"

"Jaune...we can't fight because she has no partner."

"...wait, what?"

"There's two of us and only one of her. She can't fight us for the Keystones."

"Huh," said Jaune. "Yeah...I guess technically we're still fighting under the tournament's rules. What do you have to say about that, Es?"

"Analyzing battle data," said Es. "Executing dummy unit creation."

"Dummy what now?"

In a flash, another figure suddenly appeared next to Es. Jaune and Pyrrha were shocked to see it was someone they both knew very well: Jaune Arc, only his entire body appeared as if it was covered in a shade.

"What the heck?!" yelled Jaune. "That's me! What...how..."

"Commencing tag battle protocol," said Es.

While Jaune was still bewildered at the sight of himself by Es' side, Es immediately charged for him. Pyrrha used her Polarity Semblance to throw Jaune out of the way as Es swung down with her giant sword, leaving behind a crystalized after image where her sword had swung. Pyrrha shot from behind her shield to catch Es' attention; Es decided to focus on Pyrrha instead and had her Jaune clone deal with the real Jaune.

Despite her size, Es was able to move and swing her weapon fluently like it weighed nothing, and thanks to the after-image crests that were left behind after nearly every swing, it made it hard for Pyrrha to counter attack immediately afterwards, forcing Pyrrha to rely on dodging until she found a weakness to exploit. Unable to land a hit at close range, Pyrrha used her spear's rifle mode to fire shots from a long distance. Es used her massive sword to block all the shots, then fired back by releasing waves of energy like her crests towards Pyrrha.

 _"Fighting at long range isn't an option,"_ thought Pyrrha. _"But perhaps if I lure her to me, I can take advantage at close range."_

Pyrrha turned Miló back into a short spear and crouched behind her shield as Es continued to shoot her crescent waves. With Pyrrha remaining still to defend herself, Es charged towards Pyrrha and jumped up, aiming to knock her off guard with a powerful Type: Slasher "Gawain." As Es brought down her sword, Pyrrha used her Semblance to control the trajectory of Es' sword, causing Es to completely miss Pyrrha, leaving herself open for Pyrrha to toss her shield at Es' face and knock her back. Pyrrha extended her spear and continuously slashed at Es, hoping to damage her enough to force her to drop her weapon. Pyrrha lunged her spear at Es; rather than block, Es jumped up and landed on Pyrrha shoulders, wrapping her ankles around Pyrrha's neck and somehow finding the strength to toss Pyrrha into the air, throwing Pyrrha off guard. Es charged up the seithr within her sword and fired a large wave of blue energy, sending Pyrrha flying back.

 _"She's a lot more powerful than I thought,"_ thought Pyrrha. _"I hope Jaune's having an easier time than I am!"_

While Pyrrha kept fighting Es, Jaune had to deal with battling his literal self. The Fake Jaune took out an exact copy of Jaune's sword and swung in the same wild manner as the real Jaune. Jaune hid behind his shield as he tried to get over the initial shock of fighting his clone. Once Jaune realized he needed to fight back at some point, he took a swing at the Fake Jaune, only for his fake to block in the same way as well. The Fake Jaune tried to take a big upward swing at Jaune; Jaune jumped back before nearly losing his head. Jaune was trying to figure out how he was supposed to beat himself, but unlike most of his previous opponents, this one knew everything about Jaune because it was Jaune.

 _"How can I possibly go up against myself?"_ thought Jaune. _"The fake me knows everything I'm going to do!"_

As Jaune was freaking out over how he can possibly fight his perfectly matched clone, it suddenly occurred to him what fighting his exact double meant.

 _"Wait a second...if fake me is exactly like me...I should know everything he's going to do too!"_

As Jaune kept blocking his clone's attacks, he took another hard look at how Fake Jaune was fighting. His sloppy fighting stance, the way he held his shield and sword, the way he tried to attack and defend...it was all exactly the way Jaune fought. Jaune remembered all the training he went through with Pyrrha, constantly having his shortcomings pointed out to him and how to overcome them. Whatever weaknesses Jaune had as a fighter, this duplicate was sure to have them as well.

 _"Okay Jaune, think! What's a bad habit of mine I keep doing that Pyrrha is always telling me to avoid?"_

While Jaune held up his shield thinking of what to do, the Fake Jaune started swinging his sword in a more desperate and frantic manner, trying to land any kind of hit on a defensive Jaune.

 _"Of course! Sometimes I get frustrated when I'm struggling to hit someone! If I were facing someone who was hiding behind their shield, I'd probably try to swing as hard as I could with both hands!"_

Unable to do any real damage to Jaune, Fake Jaune placed his shield on his arm and gripped his sword with both hands.

 _"Yeah, that's exactly what I would be doing! But Pyrrha told me that trying to do that just leaves me wide open to..."_

Fake Jaune held his sword high and went for a mighty overhead swing. As Jaune knew from the times he tried to do that tactic, it only made him wide open to trip and make a fool of himself. Jaune easily stepped aside and tripped the Fake Jaune, allowing Jaune to slash away at his fallen double.

 _"It worked! Maybe the Fake Me isn't so tough after all! Wait...does this mean I'm just as bad? But then again...never mind! This is all making my brain hurt!"_

The Fake Jaune got back up and tried to use his two-handed swing yet again; Jaune parried the sword away and slashed at his clone yet again. Whatever the dummy unit tried to do, Jaune was always one step ahead, as nobody outside of Pyrrha knew the way he fought better than he did. After being slashed multiple times by the real Jaune, the Fake Jaune was down on one knee, nearly depleted of all his aura.

 _"This is my chance!"_ thought Jaune, raising his sword high and going for the final blow on his defenseless copy. Unfortunately, what Jaune forgot to take into consideration with the Fake Jaune was not only did he have the same fighting style as him, it was also possible he could have the same Semblance.

As Jaune was about to strike Fake Jaune, the Fake Jaune's aura suddenly glowed a bright white; the moment Jaune hit his clone, the clash caused Jaune to suddenly be thrown back like he was shot out of a cannon, a situation that was familiar to a couple of his past enemies.

 _"Darn it! I forgot he might also have my Semblance, and it would kick in as the luckiest of times!"_

Jaune got up and saw the Fake Jaune fully rejuvenated and ready to fight back. Fake Jaune re-equipped his shield and leapt towards Jaune with a jumping slash; Jaune held his shield to block the Fake Jaune. Jaune could feel more force than usual from the Fake Jaune's swing. Jaune took a swing himself as the Fake Jaune blocked with his shield; the Fake Jaune's shield glowed white as Jaune's sword bounced off the Fake Jaune's shield and stung Jaune's arm.

 _"I think that hurt me more than it hurt him! It's like not only did he copy my Semblance, he's actually using it better! Now what am I gonna do?!"_

Panicked by suddenly being outmatched by his clone, the real Jaune went on the defensive, trying to block the Fake Jaune's powered up attacks. As Jaune was struggling to overcome his shadow copy, Pyrrha and Es had traded blows back and forth. Es had Pyrrha outmatched in strength, but Pyrrha was able to keep up thanks to her battle prowess and tactics. During her battle with Es, Pyrrha glanced over to see how Jaune was faring and noticed him having trouble trying to defeat his shadow copy. If Pyrrha didn't step in to help Jaune, the match was going to become a two on one situation, and Pyrrha was already fighting at her best to keep up with Es. But if Pyrrha took her eyes off Es for even a second, Es would likely take advantage of the distraction and take out Pyrrha in a heartbeat. Pyrrha needed to decide fast before it was too late.

The two Jaunes clashed swords trying to overpower the other. Low on aura, the real Jaune was slowly getting overpowered, nearly falling to his knees. The Fake Jaune kicked Jaune hard in the chest to knock him down. As Jaune was trying to get back up, the Fake Jaune went for swing directed for Jaune's head. Jaune suddenly felt a force grab a hold of his left arm and quickly raised it to knock the Fake Jaune's sword out of his hand, then felt the same force take control of his sword and thrust it through the Fake Jaune's stomach. After Jaune pulled his sword out, the Fake Jaune collapsed to the ground and slowly faded away into a cloud of black smoke.

 _"That force!"_ thought Jaune. _"That had to have been..."_

Jaune quickly turned to Pyrrha, who had her used her Semblance to help Jaune defeat his doppelganger. But as Pyrrha feared, the few seconds she took to help Jaune had left her wide open for Es to commence another assault. Es formed a crest underneath Pyrrha and launched a spike that knocked Pyrrha into the air, then slashed Pyrrha multiple times before forming another crest to spike Pyrrha back onto the clouded floor. Sensing that Pyrrha was nearly out of aura, Es decided to launch one final attack to finish Pyrrha off.

"Executing obliteration of the target," said Es, creating a huge crest in front of her, using it to envelop herself in pure energy before rushing towards Pyrrha at lightning fast speed. Before Es reached Pyrrha, Jaune ran in and tackled Pyrrha out of the way, narrowly avoiding Es as she charged passed them.

"Thanks for the save, Jaune!" said Pyrrha.

"I should be thanking you!" said Jaune. "If it weren't for you, that fake me would have done me in!"

Pyrrha was about to get up and get ready to fight when Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder and got up instead.

"Leave her to me! I'm the one she's after anyway!"

"Are you sure about this, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha.

"Definitely sure! Besides, you need some time to recover!"

Pyrrha wanted to speak up and tell Jaune she could still fight, but he was right. Even if she knew Jaune didn't stand a chance against Es, she needed some rest before trying to fight Es again.

"Oh, but can I ask for a favor?" asked Jaune.

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"I know I said leave this to me, but...mind using your Semblance to give me a hand?"

Hearing Jaune asking for her help, Pyrrha couldn't help but smile.

"I thought you'd never ask!" replied Pyrrha.

As Es recharged the seithr in her sword, Pyrrha enveloped Jaune with her Polarity, essentially giving Pyrrha complete control over Jaune. Once Es was fully charged, she dashed towards Jaune and swung her sword. Jaune held up his shield to block Es' horizontal slash; even from blocking Es' sword, he was nearly thrown off his feet and almost got hit by Es' quick vertical follow-up but was pulled back by Pyrrha just in time. Seeing the after images form around Es anytime she attacked, Jaune realized why Pyrrha had such a hard time getting any offense on Es. All Jaune could do was leave himself in Pyrrha's hands as he was pulled from side to side, avoiding Es as much as possible.

"She's so fast!" said Jaune. "I don't think I can hit her! What do I do now?"

"Stay on defense, Jaune!" said Pyrrha. "I'll let you know when the time is right!"

Jaune didn't know if there ever would be a right time, but trusted Pyrrha knew what to do, continuing to defend himself against Es. With Es not slowing down for a second, Pyrrha pulled Jaune back, hoping to lure Es into a trap like she did before. With Jaune backing away from Es, Es jumped up, aiming to land on Jaune's shoulders and toss him upwards. As Es was about to grab Jaune, Pyrrha made Jaune raise his shield over his head to block Es, causing Es to slip off Jaune's shield and fumble to the ground, leaving her open for an attack.

"Now, Jaune!" said Pyrrha. Jaune frantically swung his sword at Es, slashing away until he was exhausted and needed to catch his breath. Es fell to the floor, appearing to have lost the fight, and just in time as Pyrrha needed a break from using her Semblance before she completely lost her aura.

"We did it, Pyrrha!" said Jaune. "We won!"

As soon as Jaune turned his back on Es, Pyrrha noticed a crest forming underneath Jaune.

"Below you, Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha, but it was too late. Es suddenly created a crest from underneath Jaune and slashed his legs, preventing him from being able to run. With Jaune wide open, Es launched herself forward and struck Jaune with her Type: Slasher Galahad, dealing a critical amount of damage. Jaune collapsed to the ground, his aura now utterly depleted. Pyrrha got up and ran over to the fallen Jaune.

"Jaune!" said Pyrrha. "Are you-?"

"I'll be fine!" muttered Jaune through the immense pain he was in. "Keep your focus on Es!"

"Target Jaune Arc subdued," said Es. "Commencing annihilation of target Pyrrha Nikos."

Es wasted no time going after Pyrrha, who barely recovered enough aura to fight for long. Pyrrha held up her shield as Es went for a mighty downward swing, pushing down on Pyrrha to get her on one knee. With their chances of winning slipping away, Pyrrha tried to reason with Es as a last resort.

"Just why are you after our Keystones anyway?" asked Pyrrha. "Why are you working for that other girl?"

"My mission is classified," said Es.

"There has to be a way to settle this peacefully! Please, we just want to go back to our world!"

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to complete your mission."

Jaune looked like he wanted to say sorry for letting his team down but was in such severe pain he could barely talk let alone move. Seeing Jaune in such pain and hearing Es not even show a hint of remorse sparked an emotion within Pyrrha was not used to having: Pure Anger.

"Farewell, Pyrrha Nikos," said Es, going for another strong swing to finish Pyrrha off.

"I'm sorry," said Pyrrha, "but losing here is NOT my destiny!"

A bright blue aura suddenly burst from Pyrrha as she jumped up with her shield and deflected Es' sword with such force that she caused Es to stumble back. Es was taken aback by this strange phenomenon that caused Pyrrha to look as strong, if not stronger, than when the fight began.

"Pyrrha Nikos' strength status is rapidly rising," said Es. "Incomprehensible with established data."

"If you won't let us go home, you leave me no choice!" said Pyrrha.

Es swung her sword, creating the after-image crests as usual. This time instead of avoiding them, Pyrrha used her spear to cut through the crests and slash at Es, not letting the after images cutting through her arms hold her back. Es tried to sweep Pyrrha's legs with her sword, only for Pyrrha to jump up and roundhouse kick Es back. With Es knocked back, Pyrrha threw her shield with great force towards Es' right arm, causing Es to drop her weapon, then immediately extended her spear and went to work cutting down Es, going at such a fast pace that even Es had a hard time keeping track of where Pyrrha was attacking from. With Es unable to use her weapon, Pyrrha launched Es into the air and wrapped her spear around Es' neck, slamming her back down to the ground with a vicious power bomb.

Pyrrha was hoping that was enough to finally end it, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Es slowly get back to her feet but could barely stand still as she stumbled about.

"Targets too...strong...extract Keystones," said Es, sounding too dizzy to speak clearly. "Commence...retreat."

Es suddenly disappeared in a flash. With Es out of sight and the battle over, Pyrrha checked on Jaune's condition.

"Are you okay, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha.

"I'll recover eventually," said Jaune. "Now, how do we get out of...where even ARE we?!"

"Maybe this was the finish line that voice was talking about? I've got a strange feeling about that gate."

"I wonder..."

Jaune stood up and took out the Keystones, holding them up to the giant gate, expecting a reaction, but nothing happened.

"Nothing. Either this is here for show or we need the last Keystone."

"So, what do you want to do now?"

"No point in staying here, right? We should head out and search for the others!"

Pyrrha would usually follow Jaune's orders, but this was the only time Pyrrha got to be alone with Jaune that didn't involve training or studying. Since they had no idea where they needed to go, Pyrrha decided to take advantage of the fact they finally had some down time.

"Or we could stay here and wait for them?" suggested Pyrrha.

"Wait here?" said Jaune. "Well...I could use a bit of rest after all this fighting."

Jaune sheathed his sword and sat on the ground. As soon as he sat down, he was suddenly reminded of his feet being in agonizing pain from the miniscule amount of time he got to be off his feet.

"Scratch that. I can use a LOT of rest after everything I've been through. Giant monsters, robots, goth girls, talking animals...I'm starting to miss just dealing with Cardin and the Grimm!"

"It's been quite a journey," said Pyrrha, taking a seat next to Jaune. "But we'll find our way home soon, Jaune."

"Actually, as crazy as this tournament has been...I did meet a lot of great people I'll never forget. They ended up teaching me some important lessons."

"Like what?"

"Like never taking my teammates' help for granted, and not being ashamed to admit I need their help."

Jaune suddenly placed his hand over Pyrrha's and smiled; Pyrrha felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest.

"Thanks for your help, partner. You, Ren, Nora...and all our friends back home. I couldn't do this without any of you."

Pyrrha turned away and blushed. She was glad that Jaune seemed to finally get over being the weak link of the team, and how Pyrrha and the others weren't supporting him merely out of pity. The only way this moment could possibly get better was if Jaune would admit to having the same kind of feelings for Pyrrha that Pyrrha had for him.

"Jaune! Pyrrha! Over here!"

The Arkos pair looked up to see Hyde and the others running up to them.

"Guys!" said Jaune. "What happened with Rachel?"

"She made a break for it as soon as that other girl teleported you," said Hyde. "Where is she?"

"She disappeared after we fended her off. But how did you find us here?"

"We were guided here by the Moderator," said Linne. "As much as we don't trust her, we didn't have a choice."

 **"DING DING DING DING! That sound means we officially have a winner! Congratulations, Team Red! You are the winners of the 37th Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament!"**

"And yet I don't feel like celebrating," said Jaune.

"Now what happens?" asked Hyde.

 **"Now I'm going to introduce Team Red's grand prize! Get ready in 3...2...1..."**

And then everything went pitch black.


	8. Fight Against the System

_?_

As soon as the Moderator's countdown ended, everything went pitch black around Jaune, just like how this tournament got started.

"Not again!" said Jaune. "Pyrrha! Nora! Ren! Is anyone out there?"

"We're here, Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha somewhere close by.

"Linne and I are here as well," said Hyde. "Whatever 'here' is."

"You think we made it back home?" asked Jaune.

"Sure doesn't feel like it!" said Nora. "Anybody know how to turn on the lights?"

 **"Congratulations, Jauney-boy! You've successfully reached the finish line with all the Keystones!"**

"Cut to the chase, Moderator!" said Jaune. "Tell us what's going on right now!"

 **"Wow. You'd think a tournament winner would be more excited than that."**

"Some tournament!" said Hyde. "You were forcing people to fight each other against their will! You put everyone's friends in danger! Who the hell are you?!"

"Cool it, Hyde," said Linne. "Yelling isn't going to get us answers."

 **"Kids these days are so impatient! I'm going to have to put an age restriction the next time I host one of these things."**

"If we ever find out who you really are," said Jaune, "we'll make sure you NEVER do such a thing again!"

 **"Oh really? Perhaps you'd like to be put through that test?"**

"Test?" asked Jaune.

"Sounds like she's really going to show herself!" said Nora. "So where are you, Mod Lady?"

 **"Let's just say...I've always been by your side!"**

"Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha. "Your Keystone!"

Jaune looked down and noticed something glowing in his jacket pocket. He reached in and pulled out the red Keystone, which was now shining bright enough to nearly illuminate the room.

"Whoa!" said Jaune. "What's going on?"

 **"Ladies and Gentlemen! The moment you've all been waiting for! Time for me to make my grand entrance!"**

The Keystone suddenly burst into a bright white light about as strong as the sun, causing everyone to cover their eyes to not go blind. By the time the light faded, everyone opened their eyes and found themselves in some kind of place that looked like an open-air stadium, only the world around them appeared to be amid an apocalypse. They could barely notice the world around them compared to what had appeared standing over them: It was the red Keystone, only this time it had grown at least two dozen feet tall and had armor plating surrounding it, along with two giant swords and several more crystals surrounding the lower portion of its body. The best way they could describe it was like a mechanical deity in the sky.

"What in the world is that thing?!" yelled Jaune.

"I think we already know," said Pyrrha. "This must be that voice's true form!"

"Correct again, Pyrrha Nikos!" said the voice emanating from the giant Keystone. "Man, what would Jaune do without you?"

"So, do you have a name?" asked Linne.

"I am known as the Cross-Dimensional Observation System No. XX. You can call me System for short!"

"Observation System?" asked Hyde. "So, you're like some kind of multi-world surveillance camera?"

"I'm much more than a surveillance camera!" explained System. "I not only observe other worlds, I gather data on them as well! I was especially intrigued by your worlds! The people, the places, and the adventures...I became so obsessed with these worlds that I no longer simply wanted to observe them! I wanted to be a part of those worlds! I wanted to see MORE worlds! But sadly, I could never do such a thing as a mere little crystal created simply to just observe. I needed a plan to get stronger so I can break out of my prison and begin my quest to see all the possible worlds that could exist!"

"And that plan was this tournament," said Linne.

"Bingo! In order for me to get stronger, I needed to gather combat data from the best the worlds I observed had to offer! So, using the data I obtained through my observations, I created the Phantom Field, a little mishmash of the four worlds I had closely observed, and brought along several participates from each. But hosting a bunch of solo fights was going to take FOREVER, so I came up with the tag system and used yours truly as an excuse to get everyone to throw down the way I wanted them to! That was the first phase of the plan complete.

"The second phase was eventually deciding which of these worlds I would conquer first once the tournament was over. The world of the Azure? The Personas? The In-births? The Huntsmen? Man, I thought I was going to struggle with making a decision! But as it turns out, that decision was going to be easier than I thought! I had found the perfect world all thanks to a scrawny kid who had no idea what the heck he was doing!"

"You're talking about me, aren't you?" said Jaune.

"I have to say even I'm confused," said Linne. "No offense Jaune, but you're not exactly a strong fighter compared to others I've seen."

"Like I don't know that myself?"

"But then why him?" asked Pyrrha. "What does Jaune have to do with what world you would conquer first?"

"A simple reason!" said System. "See, even though I can observe your worlds and pull you out of them, I have no way of ever actually entering them! Even in this form, I can't simply teleport myself to your world and start my conquest! What I needed was a host body to call my own, and Jaune Arc over here became the prime candidate for being my world conquering catalyst!"

"But why?!" yelled Jaune. "Why me of all people?!"

"Now, I know what all of you must be thinking: Jaune Arc? Really? I could have chosen literally ANYONE ELSE, and they would be a lot stronger than the scrawny wimp who can't even use his own natural powers! But you see...that's what made you the perfect candidate! Because you were the WORST FIGHTER HERE!"

"Because I was...the worst?" said Jaune, feeling like a dagger was plunged into his heart when he heard himself be called the worst.

"Don't listen to her, Jaune!" said Pyrrha.

"Yeah!" said Nora. "You're a great fighter and a great leader! If you weren't so great, how come he was able to win the tournament?"

"Weren't you the ones who said she was rigging this tournament?" asked Linne.

"So it's true then?" asked Ren. "Was this tournament rigged?"

"Rigged is a STRONG word," said System. "I would say more like I gave you a BIT of a curve by making up the rules as I went."

"Like what?" asked Jaune.

"Well for one thing, how about that time out 'victory' you had over Azrael and Hakumen? Since when did fights to the death have time limits? They would have devoured you if I didn't suddenly claim the time was over!"

"Then what about all those times that weird power came into play?" asked Jaune. "Was that all your doing as well?!"

"Oh yeah, that friendship resonating thing. Honestly, I don't know where that came from! Must have been a side effect of meshing all these worlds together. But that was quite a happy accident! Saved me the trouble of having to step in to make sure you didn't lose your Keystone there, Jauney-boy! Because trust me, if you didn't have all those people and I carry you on their backs this whole time, you'd have been eliminated five seconds into this tournament and you know it!

"But good news, Jauney-boy! In a few moments, you won't have to worry about being a burden to anyone else! Once I take over your body, you can watch as I conquer all the worlds in existence one by one, starting with your home turf in Remnant!"

"Like we're gonna let that happen!" said Nora, raising her hammer up. "Bring it on, System!"

Everyone got out their weapons, ready to charge in and take down the giant Keystone that had forced them into this tournament once and for fall. As System overlooked all her potential victims ready to be annihilated, she noticed that the group suddenly seemed to be one person short.

"That's strange," said System. "Weren't there six of you that arrived here?"

The group looked around and realized that the stoic girl from Hyde's world suddenly went missing. While System was monologuing about how she rigged the tournament for Jaune and planned to conquer Remnant, Linne used her speed to quickly run off without anyone noticing and got behind System, hoping to gain the upper hand in their favor. Linne jumped towards System and relentlessly slashed at her crystal body. Despite Linne landing a surprise attack, System acted as if she couldn't feel a thing.

"Well there you are!" said System. "Guess I should get rid of you before I deal with these Remnant chumps!"

System suddenly transported herself behind Linne, catching Linne completely off guard. System swung down with one of her giant blades on top of Linne, crushing her to the ground. System then threw her giant blade like a spinning disc at Linne, slashing Linne several times as Linne was pushed back to nearly the other side of the room. Linne collapsed to the ground, barely moving.

"LINNE!" yelled Hyde as everyone ran to her side. Thankfully Linne was still alive, but she was clearly unable to keep fighting.

"That was a good warm-up!" said System. "Anyone else want to try their luck?"

"You're not going to get away this!"

Hyde immediately charged towards System before anyone could stop him. Hyde was about to unleash his Gyre Vortex when a shadow copy of Jaune suddenly appeared and slashed at Hyde, causing Hyde to go on the defensive and block the fake Jaune's attack. Before Hyde can ask why a copy of Jaune was attacking him, System used one of her small crystals surrounding her to shoot fire at Hyde. With Hyde distracted trying to fight off the fake Jaune and getting burned, System aimed one of her giant blades directly at Hyde and fired it like a missile, drilling into Hyde and sending him flying back just like Linne, taking him out of the fight as well. Jaune ran over to make sure Hyde didn't just get himself killed trying to avenge Linne. Linne opened her eyes and saw Hyde now in the same boat as her.

"Hyde...you idiot," said a severely wounded Linne. "There was...no reason to do that."

"We need a plan, Jaune!" said Nora.

"Ren! Nora!" said Jaune. "Take Hyde and Linne and try to get somewhere safe! Pyrrha and I are going to take down this giant crystal!"

"On it!" replied Ren.

Nora lifted Linne onto her back as Ren placed Hyde over his shoulder and ran off to get out of harm's way. Jaune and Pyrrha stood side by side and looked up at the giant Keystone that was blocking their pathway home. System couldn't help but laugh at seeing Jaune trying to play hero and stand up to her.

"Are you kidding me?" said System. "You really think you and your best friend are going to be strong enough to stop ME?"

"I do think that!" said Jaune.

"Did you not listen to what I said before? You're the weakest fighter involved in this tournament! You only won thanks to my interference and your teammates carrying you on your back!"

"You're wrong!" said Pyrrha. "Jaune isn't weak, and I-"

"No Pyrrha," interrupted Jaune. "She's right."

Pyrrha was stunned to see Jaune say that System was actually right. Even System was surprised to see Jaune admit how pathetic he was despite trying to stand up to her.

"Beg your pardon?" asked System.

"I need my teammates to help me," said Jaune. "So what? You think I'm weak just because I rely on others to help me out? I may not be as experienced of a fighter...and I have no idea how exactly my Semblance works...but as long as I have teammates from my world or not who have my back...I have their backs as well! And together, no matter who I'm teaming up with, I can do anything, and that includes stopping you!"

Jaune placed a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder and smiled; Pyrrha smiled and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder as well. If the System could throw up, she'd be hurling seeing Jaune give such an inane speech about friendship and togetherness.

"Awwww, nice speech Jauney-boy!" mocked System. "But I'm afraid this isn't going to be another case of 'Friendship Conquers All!' that you kids love so much! Let's end this tournament once and for all! AND...FIGHT!"

Jaune and Pyrrha held up their shields and ran towards System. System swung her giant swords at the Arkos pair; both jumped over in perfect synchronization to avoid the attack. Knowing she needed to separate these two as much as possible, System sent her smaller crystals after Jaune, and created a Fake Jaune similar to Es' to attack Pyrrha. As Jaune used his shield to block the smaller crystals shooting flames as he swatted them away with his sword, Pyrrha and Fake Jaune clashed blades. Knowing Jaune's weak spots better than anyone, Pyrrha kicked Fake Jaune in the chest and threw her shield to bounce off the fake copy and land back on her arm, causing the Fake Jaune to fade away.

"Thought you could beat me with a Fake Jaune?" said Pyrrha.

"Maybe not with one," said System. "But perhaps with several of them!"

System summoned a multitude of Fake Jaune copies to surround Pyrrha. Having been used to fighting several opponents at once - both solo and with her team - this was simply another easy obstacle for Pyrrha to overcome as she took down the fake copies with ease. System only used the weak copies as a distraction in order to swing her giant sword and take out the invincible girl; using her Polarity Semblance, Pyrrha held up her hand and stopped the sword less than an inch from cutting into her palm. What Pyrrha forgot to consider however was System wielding a second giant blade, which she used to sweep at Pyrrha's legs, dealing some serious damage to Pyrrha.

"Hang on, Pyrrha!" shouted Jaune, running in to attack System.

As soon as Jaune struck System, System formed a barrier that repelled Jaune and Pyrrha a dozen feet back. System aimed her two swords at Jaune and Pyrrha and fired; both held up their shields as the swords pushed them back even further. Even with their aura and armor, they still took some moderate damage from the strength of System's attack. System had only struck Jaune and Pyrrha a handful of times, but the pair could feel their aura at least halfway gone by now, while System appeared to have barely taken any damage.

"What do we do now, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha.

"Those swords are her strongest weapons!" said Jaune. "We have to find a way to avoid them!"

As Jaune and Pyrrha were coming up with a plan, they were greeted by System teleporting right behind them.

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" asked System. "Saying your final goodbyes before I take over?"

"The only one I'm saying goodbye to is you!" replied Jaune.

"Nice comeback. Here's mine!"

System lifted her sword and slammed it down on top of Jaune and Pyrrha, who used their shields to block the attack but still felt the impact of the sword's weight nearly squashing them. Considering the size of System's swords and her ability to teleport anywhere she pleased, trying to avoid the swords was not going to be possible, and blocking them wasn't going to do good either.

"Okay, avoiding them is out of the question!" said Jaune. "We need a new plan!"

"Any ideas?" asked Pyrrha.

"I don't know! The only thing I can think of is disarming her, but there's no way we can do that with swords that big!"

Disarming System did look impossible, but it did give Pyrrha another idea.

"Jaune, I've got an idea!" said Pyrrha. "Get ready to go on my signal!"

System swung her sword around towards Pyrrha; Pyrrha concentrated her Semblance on the incoming blade and stopped it in its tracks. System then swung with her other sword, which Pyrrha also used her Semblance to freeze it in place.

"Now!" said Pyrrha.

Without her swords to counter with, Jaune charged in and slashed away at System with everything he had. Having to concentrate hard on her Semblance, Pyrrha was hoping Jaune would cause enough damage before she lost control and would be forced to let go to not overexert herself. Eventually System's body started to crack as she suddenly toppled back and fell to the ground.

"She's down!" said Jaune. "Now's our chance!"

With System's body temporarily shutting down, Jaune and Pyrrha homed in and chipped away at System's body with a constant barrage of slashes with their weapons. Seeing herself pushed into a corner, System created her barrier to knock Jaune and Pyrrha away as she floated back up, infuriated to see herself getting bested by these two amateurs.

"How is it I'm somehow struggling to defeat a couple of stupid kids?!" said System.

"Don't you get it, System?" said Jaune. "By working together, we can defeat anyone! You'd think observing our battles in this tournament would have taught you that!"

"Is that what you think? Well then, both of you come at me with everything you've got!"

Jaune did exactly what System asked for, running in and swinging wildly at System, trying to do as much damage as he could.

"Are you attacking me?" said System. "I barely feel a thing!"

While Jaune continually kept attacking System, Pyrrha was standing back. Hearing System taunting them into attacking her just screamed like it was an obvious trap, yet System didn't simply counter Jaune's attack like Pyrrha expected.

 _"Something's wrong,"_ thought Pyrrha. _"Why is she allowing herself to get attacked?"_

As Pyrrha kept an eye on System in case she tried to attack, she noticed the floor underneath Jaune starting to glow red. In fact, nearly the entire floor underneath them was flashing red.

"Jaune, get back!" yelled Pyrrha. "It's a trap!"

"Too late for that!" said System.

Seeing the floor underneath him change colors, Jaune turned around and tried to run away but was suddenly caught in one of the giant beams of red energy that burst from the floor; Pyrrha held up her shield to block the beam's attack that engulfed her, but it still did some moderate damage to her. Once the beams had vanished, Pyrrha looked up to see if Jaune was okay. Jaune gave Pyrrha the thousand-yard stare before dropping his sword and collapsing to the ground.

"Jaune!" yelled Pyrrha, running over to check on her partner.

"What's wrong, Jauney-boy?" said System. "What happened to all that talk about teamwork and friendship?"

Jaune could only respond in a painful groan. It was official: This was definitely the worst amount of pain he felt since this tournament began, and he doubted that his Semblance was magically going to kick in and undo the damage.

"Hang in there, Jaune!" said Pyrrha. "It's going to be okay!"

"C'mon, tough guy!" mocked System. "Get up and prove you aren't the worthless weakling everyone thinks you are!"

"Enough!" said Pyrrha, turning her focus back to System. "I'll make you pay for everything you've put us through!"

"Seriously girl, what do you see in him? Anyone can take one look at him and realize what an idiot he is! The only thing he's good for is giving motivational speeches and being a human punching bag!"

"Yeah...I'm an idiot," moaned Jaune. "I guess I can't keep fighting, huh?"

"Fighting? You can barely stand at this point! Now I just have to take out this annoying girlfriend of yours and get this tournament over with!"

As Pyrrha and System got ready to fight, Jaune suddenly started laughing to himself despite the pain he was in.

"What's so funny?" asked System. "Finally cracking under the pressure, Jauney-boy?"

"You just said I'm out of the fight," said Jaune. "I don't know if you've noticed but...a funny thing happens in these tag battles when someone goes down."

"When someone goes...OH NO!" yelled System.

System had gotten so overconfident in defeating Jaune she completely overlooked that weird side effect Jaune had brought up earlier; that damn friendship boost Jaune kept using to win his tag matches, or rather what his much stronger allies kept using when Jaune was taken out of the fight. Jaune had nearly gotten himself killed on purpose, knowing that his team's best chance of finally ending this tournament and getting his friends home relied on the Sanctum prodigy that had helped him since the day he arrived at Beacon.

"It's all on you, partner," said Jaune. "Do what you do best."

"I'm on it!" said Pyrrha, tapping into the Resonance Blaze once again, raising her strength dramatically as her aura was quickly regenerating.

System swung her sword down on Pyrrha, only for Pyrrha to block with her shield like it was nothing. System swung her other sword to sweep Pyrrha off her feet; Pyrrha easily jumped back and avoided the attack. Using her Polarity, she held her shield in mid-air and used it to jump up at System, extending her spear and slashing away at System several times before landing back on the ground. Desperate to try and defeat Pyrrha, System created several of copies of Jaune to attack Pyrrha. Pyrrha simply spun around with her extended spear on her neck and instantly destroyed all the fake copies, then chucked the spear directly at System, landing a blow so hard that cracks started to form in System's crystallized body.

"You know," said System, "you're really a half-decent fighter! Maybe instead of that scrawny weakling, I'll just take over your body! Would be a shame to let yours go to waste!"

System raised her sword up and brought it down on top of Pyrrha. Instead of trying to roll out of the way or raise her shield to block, Pyrrha lifted her arm and used her Semblance to stop the sword from reaching her. System attempted to lift her sword back up, only to feel Pyrrha's Polarity prevent her from pulling it back.

"I'm sorry," said Pyrrha, "but I can't let you do that!"

"Give me my sword back!" demanded System.

"If you say so!" Concentrating all her power on System's sword, Pyrrha rotated the sword so it now pointed at System.

"Wait a second! That's not what-"

Pyrrha didn't let System finish begging for mercy as she flung the sword directly at System, breaking apart System's armor and knocking her to the ground.

"NO FAIR!" shouted System. "Using someone's own weapon against them?! That's borderline cheating!"

"You're one to talk about cheating!" said Pyrrha. "How many people have you cheated in this tournament to make things go your way?"

"Like you and that idiot boyfriend of yours didn't benefit from it! I knew I should have chosen a better team to help!"

"It's over, System! This is one fight you're not going to cheat your way out of!"

Pyrrha ran up to System and struck her constantly with her sword and shield as System simply laid there and took it, unable to move herself after Pyrrha landed such a critical blow to her body. The aura from the Resonance Blaze subsided as Pyrrha felt exhausted using every bit of energy she had to make sure System stayed down for good. With System still not moving, it appeared Jaune and Pyrrha were able to come out victorious.

"It looks like we won!" said Pyrrha. "We're going home, Jaune!"

"I knew it was a good idea to rely on you!" said Jaune, trying to get back to his feet as every nerve in his body was screaming in agony.

"And that's why Ozpin made you our team leader," replied Pyrrha. "Now, let's get back to Ren and Nora and find our way out of here."

Pyrrha placed Jaune's arm over her shoulder and walked off to reunite with their teammates. Jaune turned back to look at the fallen System one last time...

Only System was no longer fallen. Standing back upright, System aimed her sword towards the Arkos pair and fired. With no time to say anything, Jaune immediately tried to push Pyrrha away, but the edge of the blade was still able to slash through both, knocking them both to the ground and nearly depleting the last of their aura.

"AH HA HA HA HA!" laughed System. "Like I would lose to a couple of kids barely out of high school! I've gathered too much data and come too far to allow my plans of multi-world conquest to end like this!"

"Pyrrha!" said Jaune. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, Jaune!" replied Pyrrha. "I underestimated her!"

"You were quite a tough opponent; I'll give you that!" said System. "But as the real winner of this Keystone Scramble Tag Battle Tournament, it's time I claimed my prize!"

System floated over to where Jaune was lying flat on his back, hovering over him as if to make the final blow. Pyrrha tried to use her Semblance to push Jaune out of the way, but with such little aura left in her, she didn't have the strength to do so.

"Now, be a good little puppet and hand over your body to me!"

Before System can begin whatever sickening process she had in mind to take Jaune's body, a giant crescent wave of yellow energy suddenly flew by and struck System, causing her to flinch back.

"Where did that come from?!" yelled System.

"Willingly stealing another person's body?" said Linne. "How pathetic."

"YOU?! I thought I had already dealt with you! Also, interfering in a match? That is CLEARLY against the rules, and those who break the rules MUST BE PUNISHED!"

"You're right. Breaking the rules should be a punishable offense, and so, we're going to deal your deserved punishment."

"Now!" yelled Hyde.

From behind Hyde came Ren and Nora, jumping into the fray to help their friends. Ren headed towards Pyrrha and helped her get back to her feet, with Nora charging in ready to do their special team attack. Without missing a beat, Pyrrha held up her shield for Nora to jump on and launched Nora into the air, sending her flying over System.

"IT'S NORA TIME!" shouted Nora, swinging her hammer with everything she had on top of System's body, causing several more cracks to appear on her body. Ren took out the dagger of his father and mowed down every small crystal hovering around System, shattering them into pieces. Hyde used his Pale Bringer Arrows to constantly strike System, jumping up with his Insulator and destroying one of the giant swords held by System. Linne's sword glowed with yellow energy as Linne spun around and slashed System several times before slamming her sword down on the ground and unleashed a giant beam of light that cut through System's Keystone body.

System was lying on the ground, falling apart as the heroes from different worlds joined together to take out the Moderator for good. System tried to reboot herself, but the damage was already done; she couldn't repair herself in time, leaving her wide open to be finished off.

"NO!" screamed System. "I CAN'T LOSE NOW! I'M SO CLOSE TO THE FINISH LINE!"

"I'm afraid you've been disqualified," said Hyde. "Jaune! Pyrrha! Care to do the honors?"

"With pleasure!" said Jaune.

Pyrrha used her Polarity to lift Jaune up high into the air. Jaune lifted his sword up high as he came falling towards System, striking System with one big swing of his sword, shattering a large chunk of System's main body into pieces. System let out a painful gasp before breaking off into several more fragments, falling apart until she became nothing more than a pile of rubble. Unless she suddenly repaired herself, the battle looked to be truly over.

"We did it!" said Jaune. "We destroyed the System!"

"WOO HOO!" shouted Nora. "Another victory for Team JNPR!"

"I knew we would find a way to defeat her!" said Pyrrha.

"And its thanks to our team leader," said Ren.

"No way," said Jaune. "A leader is only as good as his teammates, and I couldn't ask for a better team than all of you!"

With Team JNPR succeeding in "officially" winning the Keystone Scramble Tag Tournament, the four young huntsmen in training joined together for a group hug, relieved that this nightmare was finally coming to an end. As happy as the heroes from the world of Remnant were, their friends from the world of In-Births were feeling a little uneasy.

"Hate to kill the mood," said Hyde, "but...now what happens? Is it over? Are we going home?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Linne.

As everyone wondered where they would go from here, the arena they were in suddenly began to shake violently.

"What's going on now?!" asked Jaune.

"This world was created by System, wasn't it?" said Linne. "It must be collapsing now that she's destroyed."

"But if this place collapses, how do we-"

Before Jaune can get his answer, he could feel himself losing his footing from the ground shaking like he was caught in an earthquake. The rumbling noises around him was so deafening that he could barely hear his teammates call out to him. Everything surrounding Jaune was covered in a bright light as he slowly lost all his senses before losing consciousness.


	9. Team JNPR Returns Home?

After suddenly blacking out from his last battle, Jaune opened his eyes and adjusted to the ceiling lights glaring down on him.

"Yang, call the others!" said a familiar voice. "Jaune's waking up!"

"Ruby?" said a dazed Jaune. "Is that you?"

"Hey, Jaune!" said Ruby. "You feeling okay?"

"I don't..."

Once Jaune's eyes finally cleared up, he sat up and looked around to see where he was. It appeared to be a medical room with Ruby standing beside his bed. The last thing he could remember was defeating System and the world itself seemingly collapsing around him.

"Ruby? Where am I?"

"You're in the school infirmary," said Ruby. "You got knocked out during a training session and had to be brought in here. I'm glad it wasn't anything serious!"

"Knocked out?" asked Jaune. "From what?"

"You don't remember? You were training with your team and you took a pretty nasty hit to the head. Are you sure you're okay?"

 _"A hit to the head when training?"_ thought Jaune. _"That must be when I blacked out in Forever Fall and this whole mess got started! Man, I knew this was all a dream...or more like a nightmare! I'm just glad it's finally over!"_

"Jaune?" asked Ruby. "I asked are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah!" said Jaune. "It's just...Ruby, you are NOT going to believe the dream I had. I dreamt that-"

"Hey there, sleepyhead!" said Yang as she entered the room. "It's about time you woke up! You were starting to worry your teammates!"

"Where are they?" asked Jaune. "Are they okay?"

"What? Yeah, they're fine. Pyrrha was worried to death about you, but I think she just felt bad she accidentally knocked your noggin. At least...you didn't lose any memories, did you?"

"No, I don't think so. Where is my team right now anyway?"

"They're hanging out with Team CYAN."

"Team who?"

"Oh, they're one of the new teams visiting for the upcoming tournament!" said Ruby. "C'mon, I'll take you to them!"

Relieved that his nightmare was over, Jaune got up and headed to the sparring auditorium where several of the teams from outside Beacon Academy had gathered before the Vytal Festival officially got underway. With one fake tournament out of the way, Jaune could go back to focusing on the real tournament he was initially training for in the first place.

Once they were in the auditorium, Jaune looked around for his teammates, but they didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"Huh," said Ruby. "I guess Pyrrha and the others left already. Anyway Jaune, I want you to meet Team CYAN!"

"What?" said Jaune, turning his attention back to the others. Standing by Ruby and Yang were a trio of students - a boy and two girls - in what appeared to be their school uniforms, but each wore a different outfit. The boy wore a uniform that looked strangely familiar to Jaune, while one girl was wearing a green jacket and the other a red sweater.

"Team CYAN, this is Jaune, leader of Team JNPR!"

"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" greeted the spunky girl in green. "I'm Chie Satonaka. These are my teammates, Yosuke Hanamura and Yukiko Amagi, and we're here to represent Yasogami Huntsman Academy!"

"What's up, dude?" greeted Yosuke.

"A pleasure to meet your acquaintance!" greeted Yukiko.

"Nice to meet you too!" said Jaune. "Sorry if I seem a bit out of it. Just woke up from a coma apparently."

"Yeah, we heard," said Chie. "Your team felt really bad about it, but I assured them you'd be okay! After all, I heard Beacon Academy students are some of the toughest students around!"

"You bet!" said Yang.

"Anyway," said Jaune, "I take it you're the leader, Chie?"

"Actually," said Ruby, "in their school, the last letter represents the leader of the team."

"Oh? So where is your leader?"

"One sec," said Yosuke. "Hey, Narukami! Come say hi to Jaune!"

 _"Narukami?"_ thought Jaune. _"That's weird. That was the same name as the guy who..."_

As soon as Jaune saw Narukami stop by, his jaw nearly dropped. Either Jaune had already met Narukami and completely forgot about it because of his head trauma, or he was staring at the same exact person he had initially met in his dream.

"Hello, Jaune-san," greeted Narukami. "I'm Yu Narukami. I'm glad to see you're okay. Unfortunately, we don't have much time to chat. We have to go meet Ozpin for registration."

"I know technically we're rivals," said Ruby, "but good luck in the Keystone Tournament!"

As Team CYAN waved goodbye and left, it took a few moments for Jaune to realize what Ruby suddenly blurted out.

"Wait...what did you say about a Keystone Tournament, Ruby?" asked Jaune.

"You know!" said Ruby. "The annual Vytal Festival Keystone Tournament!"

"The...the what?"

"You seriously forgot?" asked Yang. "Maybe that knock to your head is worse than we thought."

"As a sign of unity," said Ruby, "all the major kingdoms put their Keystone up for grabs? This year Vale is not only hosting, but we're the defending champions after winning the 37th Tournament two years ago!"

"And Team RWBY is going to make sure we keep that crown!" said Yang.

As Ruby and Yang were getting excited for the tournament, Jaune could feel himself feeling faintish and about to collapse.

 _"What the heck's going on?!"_ thought Jaune. _"This can't possibly be a coincidence! This...this has to be another dream!"_

Before Ruby and Yang could ask if Jaune was okay, Jaune suddenly sprinted out of there, not paying attention to where he was going, causing himself to bump into another student head-on.

"Hey! Watch it!" yelled the student.

"Sorry!" said Jaune. "I wasn't looking where I was going!"

Jaune looked up at the very irate student to apologize, only to feel a chill run down his spine when he noticed who it was: Kanji Tatsumi. Kanji's expression suddenly changed when he realized it was Jaune who bumped into him.

"Oh, hey Jaune!" said Kanji. "I heard you were in the infirmary! Feeling okay?"

"Not anymore," said Jaune, not understanding anything going on.

"Oh...is it serious? I can call the doctors again and-"

"No no, that's okay! It's nothing, really!"

"Well...if you say so. But hey, before you run off...can I tell you something?"

"What is it?"

"I really want to thank you for helping me out at the dance. I was really worried people would try to avoid me, but thanks to you, I had a great time!"

"You did? I did?"

"Of course! What, you suddenly don't remember?"

"Well..."

"All right, seriously, are you sure you're okay? You're acting like you suddenly have amnesia or something. I want to help, man!"

"Funny you should say that, because-"

"Well it isn't the sissy little bitches!" shouted someone behind them. Kanji and Jaune turned around to see another familiar face Jaune recognized.

"Who the hell are you, asshole?" yelled Kanji.

"Name's Carmine, bitch!" replied Carmine. "And man, I thought blondie over there was the biggest sissy in this tournament! If everyone is a little bitch like you two, this tournament is going to be a piece of cake!"

"Is that what you think, punk?!" yelled Kanji. "We can fight right now!"

"Fine with me! I'll send you both back to the infirmary!"

"Knock it off Carmine," said a girl who appeared next to him, "before you get our entire academy kicked out."

Carmine chuckled and decided to back off, much to Kanji's annoyance and Jaune's relief, although that relief was short lived when he saw the girl was Linne.

"My apologies for his behavior," said Linne. "While my team isn't as insane as that idiot, we won't go easy on you."

"Looking for to it!" replied Kanji.

Jaune continued to stumble around the academy, constantly bumping into familiar faces all talking about participating in the Keystone Tournament. It wasn't until he was outside of the academy when he finally bumped into his teammates, the only people who can possibly solve this mystery.

"Thank God I found you guys!" said Jaune. "Please tell me this is some kind of dream!"

"It's not a dream, Jaune," said Pyrrha. "Somehow destroying that Keystone caused the Phantom Field to recreate our world...and brought everyone else with us."

"Wait, what?! You mean...this isn't even our actual world?! How...why..."

"I think it's best we allow her to explain it."

"And by her you mean...?"

"YOU. STUPID. OAF!" yelled an angry and familiar sounding posh voice. Jaune looked past his team and saw a very irate Rachel Alucard looking like she was ready to strangle Jaune to death.

"Hey, watch it vampire lady!" said Nora. "You're in our world now, so-"

"Did you forget what I JUST told you?!" said Rachel. "This isn't your world! It's a new Phantom Field that looks and feels like your world because you had to go and destroy the Keystone!"

"Well what else were we supposed to do?!" yelled Jaune.

"Calm down, everyone," said Ren, using his Semblance to make everyone relax about the new situation they found themselves in.

"Can somebody explain to me what's going on?" asked Jaune.

"By destroying one of System's Keystones," said Rachel, "you released the data she had on your world into the Phantom Field, causing the Phantom Field to now take the form of Remnant. As far as everyone else is aware, everything is as normal as it was before System brought you here."

"And how exactly do you know so much about System?"

"She was a creature sealed by my father many centuries ago. Had I gotten all the Keystones before you went and destroyed one of them, I could have sealed her away again and return things to normal."

"But how did she get released in the first place?"

"...I'm not sure we'll ever know."

"It was you, wasn't it?" said Ren.

Seeing Rachel suddenly get tight lipped about how and why System got released caused Jaune's blood to boil.

"IT REALLY WAS YOU!" yelled Jaune. "This is all YOUR fault!"

"What's done is done," said Pyrrha. "Instead of blaming each other for this, let's figure out how we can fix this situation we're in now."

"It's simple," said Rachel. "Win this tournament going on to obtain all of the Keystones and I can reset the worlds properly."

"That's just great!" said Jaune, throwing his hands up. "We went through ALL THAT to get back home, and now we have to do it all AGAIN! I feel like I ended up getting the 'bad' ending!"

"I dunno!" said Nora. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun facing everybody again! I've got a score to settle with that Bloodedge guy!"

"It would be nice to see Mister Jubei again," said Ren.

"And I'm sure our friends will help us too," said Pyrrha. "Together, we'll make sure to get the 'good' ending this time!"

"You had better!" said Rachel. "Gods help us to what will happen if one of those Keystones gets destroyed again!"

"I guess that's our new mission," sighed Jaune. "All right Team JNPR, let's try to win those Keystones...again..."

Just as Jaune survived one nightmare scenario, he was now entering another. Team JNPR now had a new objective on their hands: Win the Vytal Keystone Tournament and return their world back to the way it was.


End file.
